U.S. Stock Futures Lower

By Saumya Vaishampayan 

U.S. stock futures fell Monday, after the Dow and S&P posted weekly gains last week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 26 points, or 0.2%, to 17091. S&P 500 index futures shed three points, or 0.1%, to 2003 and Nasdaq-100 futures lost three points, or 0.1%, to 4084. Changes in stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell.

U.S. stocks rose Friday, with the S&P 500 closing at an all-time high, after the U.S. jobs report showed a slowdown in hiring in August. The economy added 142,000 last month, missing expectations for a gain of 225,000 jobs. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 2007.71 and the Dow gained 0.4% to 17137.36, ending just short of a fresh record.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to begin raising interest rates next year, with investors now focused on the timing and speed of the eventual increases.

"With the huge amount of [quantitative easing] that has been propping up the market for the last number of years, investors have been forced to take risk," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, a U.K. stockbroker. "A large part of that has gone into the equity market," she said, adding that higher rates could be negative for U.S. stocks.

A Scottish independence poll over the weekend indicated that the number of people in favor of independence surpassed those opposing a split for the first time, hitting European stocks. The Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.8%.

Ms. O'Keeffe said prospects for U.S. monetary policy are more likely to drive U.S. markets rather than the outcome of the Scottish vote.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell to 2.44%, according to FactSet. Yields move inversely with prices.

In corporate news, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is set to begin pitching its stock to investors on Monday ahead of the Chinese company's initial public offering. Shares of Yahoo Inc., which owns a 24% stake in Alibaba, rose 2.4% premarket.

Electrolux AB on Monday said it agreed to buy General Electric Co.'s home appliance division for $3.3 billion. GE shares were unchanged in premarket trade.

In commodity markets, crude-oil futures fell 0.7% to $92.57 a barrel. Gold futures declined 0.1% to $1,266.60 an ounce.

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