A woman walks down Wall Street in New York's financial district on March 4, 2014.Reuters/Brendan McDermid
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.23 percent while futures on the S&P 500 were down 0.15 percent and those on the Nasdaq were down 0.19 percent. On Thursday, the Dow ended the day flat while the S&P 500 rose 0.17 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 0.52 percent.
Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW), Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE:TYC) and Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) are among those scheduled to announce earnings before markets open Friday. On the data front, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index is due at 9:55 a.m. EDT.
In Europe, markets were weak with the Stoxx Europe 600 index down 0.41 percent while the FTSE 100 was down 0.25 percent. Germany’s DAX-30 fell 0.9 percent while France's CAC-40 was down 0.31 percent.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei-225 ended the day up 0.17 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.5 percent and the Shanghai Composite fell 1 percent. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.34 percent while India's BSE Sensex lost 0.82 percent.
