Futures are getting crushed
Futures were sharply lower and crude oil fell to new lows on Friday morning.
Overnight in New York, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell to a new low seven-year low of about $36.13 per barrel. On Thursday, crude slumped after OPEC's monthly report showed that the oil cartel pumped the most oil in three years in November.
And near 7:20 a.m. ET in New York, Dow futures were down 136 points, S&P 500 futures were down 13 points, and Nasdaq futures were down 33 points - all pointing to a lower open on Wall Street.
On Thursday, the indexes closed slightly higher to break a three-day losing streak.
Friday was a weak day for many global markets. Across Europe, indexes including Germany's DAX, the FTSE 10o in London, and Euro Stoxx 50 were all down by more than 1%.
In US economic data today, retail sales, producer prices, and the University of Michigan's consumer confidence survey are all due.
In M&A news, Dow Chemical and DuPont agreed to form a $130 billion chemical giant, in an all-stock deal. They would eventually split into three, and the aim is to rearrange the companies to capitalized on their respective strengths.
Here's a chart of the Dow overnight:Finviz
And of crude oil showing how prices have dropped since OPEC's meeting on December 4, when it raised its production ceiling:
Finviz