Wall Street is set for a downbeat start to the week as new Chinese economic statistics have put a new dent in investor confidence.
Economic growth in China slipped to its slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis, with quarterly GDP falling beneath the 7% target rate in the three months to the end of September.
It comes after a number of softer economic stats for the US last week, and has been a factor in commodity prices moving lower.
Crude oil prices are down around 1% this morning, with West Texas Intermediary just below US$47 per barrel while Brent was nearly 1.5% lower at US$49.75. Both industrial and precious metals were also down.
In terms of corporate highlights there a handful of blue-chip earnings due before the opening bell in New York.
Drug maker Valeant (NYSE:VRX) has revealed improved third quarter earnings, up to US$2.79bn this year versus US$2.06bn in 2014. The recently acquisitive group upgraded its forecast for the full-year after the better than expected numbers, with revenue now seen between US$11bn to US$11.2bn for 2015.
Profits at toys and merchandise group Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) rose to US$207.6mln in the third quarter, compared to US$180.5mln in the same period of last year.
Halliburton (NYSE:HAL), one of the world’s largest oil services contractors, is likely to be a key feature as it unveils its latest quarterly figures.
Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is also in the diary, while later – after the trading day – results are expected from IBM (NYSE:IBM) and theme-park group Six Flags (NYSE:SIX).
At around 7:00 am on the east coast pre-market dealing sees the Dow Jones about 14 points lower at 17,101, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were both lower too.