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Wall Street was poised for a subdued opening Monday as U.S. stock futures fell in pre-market trading. The futures were down following disappointing economic news from China and Japan.
KEEPING SCORE: Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 39 points, or 0.2 percent, to 16,409. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures slipped four points, also 0.2 percent, to 1,873. Nasdaq futures fell four points, or 0.1 percent, 3,699.50.
CHINA WORRIES: China's exports fell by an unexpectedly large 18 percent in February, reinforcing fears about the outlook for the world's second-largest economy after the United States. Meanwhile, Japan, the world's third largest economy, reported a record current account deficit for January and lowered its economic growth estimate for the October-December quarter to 0.7 percent from 1 percent.
EUROPE: The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was barely changed. Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent. The CAC-40 in France bucked the prevailing trend and rose 0.5 percent.
ASIAN MARKET: Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 1 percent and China's Shanghai Composite plunged 2.9 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.8 percent. A notable mover was Malaysia Airlines, which fell sharply following the disappearance of one its jets en route to Beijing.
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