U.S. stock futures took a turn for the worse Thursday as retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores scaled back earnings expectations, citing a worse-than-expected December performance. S&P 500 futures fell 8.4 points to 896.80 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 6 points to 1,233.50. Dow industrial futures dropped 95 points. U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday after job-cut and profit warnings from heavyweights like Alcoa, Intel and Time Warner combined with a report from payrolls processor ADP estimating that nearly 700,000 private-sector jobs were lost last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 245 points, the Nasdaq Composite lost 53 points and the S&P 500 dropped 28 points. "Financial markets received something of a shock yesterday following a very poor ADP employment survey which saw jobs decline by fully 693,000 in December against a market estimate of around 495,000," said bond analysts at the Bank of Scotland. Thursday will feature a report on weekly jobless claims, coming a day before a report on December payrolls from the government. The dollar dropped 1.3% to 91.34, though the greenback rose against the euro as euro-zone economic sentiment hit an all-time low. "Markets have extended a rebuild of risk averse trades with the U.S. dollar firmer against all of G10 (rivals), except the Japanese yen," noted analysts at Societe Generale. The Bank of England cut interest rates to their lowest level since the central bank's founding in 1694, with rates falling a half point to 1.5%. Oil futures, after a 12% tumble on Wednesday, edged up 25 cents a barrel. Retailers were reporting December sales, and results were mixed. Wal-Mart Stores shares tumbled 6.7% after flashing its fourth-quarter earnings estimates. December same-store sales at the retailing giant, excluding fuel, rose 1.7%. But shares of Sears Holdings rallied some 11% in pre-market trade as the group said fourth-quarter earnings would top estimates. Urban Outfitters also rose after a sales update. Job cut announcements also came from the tech sector: EMC , the data-storage firm, announced 2,400 job cuts. Dell is closing its main plant in Ireland that employs 1,900 and moving production to Poland. In Frankfurt trade, EMC rose 3.8% while Dell slipped 0.4%. In Asia, technology, energy and financial shares led regional markets lower, with the Hang Seng losing 3.8% and the Nikkei 225 slumping 3.9%. In Europe, the U.K. FTSE 100 lost 1.9% and the German DAX 30 fell 1.6% in early afternoon trade, with big losses seen for the metals sector.

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