LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures traded lower Friday on doubts whether the explosive gains seen in the last session can be sustained amid signs of a deteriorating world economy.
S&P 500 futures fell 11 points to 896.70 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 6.75 points to 1,227.00. Dow industrial futures slipped 95 points.
U.S. stocks surged Thursday after initially falling below Oct. 10 lows. After the lows were reached, there was a wave of buying across the board that was led by oil producers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 552 points, the Nasdaq Composite rose 97 points and the S&P 500 rose 58 points. Time to go fishing?
Friday's calendar includes what could be a gloomy report on October sales, which may have dropped even more than what was seen in September.
But import prices for October may also have dropped. A November report on consumer confidence from the University of Michigan and inventories for September also will be released. Traders also will be speculating about the weekend G20 meeting of top world leaders in Washington.
"It has a dual imperative: it must combat one of the most severe economic and financial crises in contemporary history, and redraw the outlines of a new monetary and financial world order," said economists at Credit Agricole.
Overseas, Italy and Hong Kong fell into recession, though France narrowly escaped that distinction as its economy edged up 0.1% in the third quarter.
Oil futures fell 49 cents to $57.75 a barrel, and the dollar slipped 0.5% to 97.16 yen.
Friday's corporate calendar is on the quiet side, with Abercrombie & Fitch , J.C. Penney and Agilent Technologies due to release results.
Nordstrom may see pressure as the upscale retailer issued earnings guidance below analyst expectations; another retailer, Kohl's , lowered guidance.
Citigroup may be in the spotlight as CEO Vikram Pandit bought up 750,000 shares of the company's shares as its stock fell to lows not seen since the mid-1990s.
The Nikkei 225 climbed 2.7% in Tokyo and the FTSE 100 rose 3.5% in London.
