Concerns over economic growth hit stocks around the world, after Moody's Investors Services cut Spain's sovereign debt rating and China reported an unexpected trade deficit.
U.S. stock futures weakened, with Dow futures falling 38 points to 12,136 and S&P 500 futures down 5.4 points to 1,310.
Their decline echoed a slide in equities across the world, with all the major stock markets in the red.
The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.7 per cent at 5,894 while Germany's DAX fell 0.7 per cent to 7,081. The CAC-40 in Paris was 0.8 per cent lower at 3,962.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average ended 1.4 per cent lower at 10,434.38 after the government said the economy shrank 1.3 per cent in the fourth quarter.
Chinese shares fell too, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing down 1.5 per cent to close at 2,957.14 while the Shenzhen Composite Index of China's smaller, second exchange fell 0.7 per cent to 1,302.65. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index retreated 0.8 per cent to 23,614.89.
Moody's one-notch downgrade of Spain came with a warning that further cuts were possible and on the heels of the agency's downgrade of Greece earlier this week. Moody's cited concerns over the cost of Spain's banking sector's restructuring, the government's ability to achieve its borrowing reduction targets and grim economic growth prospects.
European shares hit a five-week low, and the euro fell about half a cent to a one-week low of $1.3804 (U.S.). The risk premium on Spanish bonds widened and the cost of insuring Spanish, Greek and Portuguese debt against default rose.
Mining stocks were the worst hit after China said it swung in February to an unexpected trade deficit of $7.3-billion, its largest in seven years, as surging prices for oil and other commodities pushed up its import bill and export growth cooled.
Crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 3 cents at $104.35 a barrel.
The next pieces of key economic data are weekly U.S. jobless claims and U.S. international trade data for January, due at 8:30 a.m. (ET) .
Sonali Verma