U.S. futures edge lower amid fiscal worries; Dow Jones down 0.16%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Monday, as concerns due to tepid U.S. nonfarm payrolls data and ahead of U.S. debt ceiling talks dampened market sentiment.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.16% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.14% loss, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.07% dip.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor said the economy added 155,000 jobs in December, slightly higher than forecasts for an increase of 150,000, but easing from an upwardly revised increase of 161,000 in November, suggesting that the recovery in the labor market may be slowing.

The data came one day after the minutes of the Federal Reserves’ December policy meeting showed that some policymakers considered an earlier-than-expected end to the bank’s quantitative easing program.

Investors also remained cautious over the longer term outlook in the U.S., with negotiations on raising the debt ceiling still to come in February.

Financial stocks were expected to be active, amid reports Citigroup's Michael Corbat has been meeting bank regulators in his first months as CEO,with hopes of bolstering relationships and finalize the bank's plan to return capital to shareholders.

Separately, the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision, a group of the world's top regulators and central bankers, on Sunday agreed to give banks four more years to build up cash reserves.

In pre-market trade, Citigroup shares climbed 0.75%, while Bank of America rallied 0.99%.

Biotech companies were also likely to be in focus, as Illumina dove 13.99% in early trading after Roche said that its takeover bid is "off the table".

In addition, Illumina agreed to buy Verinata Health Inc. for USD350 million plus up to USD100 million in milestone payments through 2015.

Elsewhere, Yahoo was also likely to trend lower, with shares sliding 0.30% pre-market, after they were downgraded to market perform from outperform at Bernstein.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 0.40%, France’s CAC 40 retreated 0.61%, Germany's DAX declined 0.57%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.29%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched 0.01% lower, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.83%.