Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to sharp losses at the open on Wednesday, joining a global sell-off, amid ongoing oil price weakness.
The blue-chip Dow futures tumbled 310 points, or 1.95%, by 10:40GMT, or 5:40AM ET, the S&P 500 futures slumped 35 points, or 1.84%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 87 points, or 2.08%.
Oil prices sank to the lowest level since 2003 on Wednesday, as ongoing concerns over the strength of the global economy added to uncertainty about how quickly the global glut of crude is set to shrink.
The drop in oil prices, which are down more than 70% from their 2014 high, has fueled mounting risk aversion, sending global equities sharply lower since the start of the year.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 entered a bear market Wednesday, while Hong Kong stocks hit a three-and-a-half year low. The gloomy mood spilled over to European equities, where Germany's DAX sank 3%, while London’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.8%.
Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, shed 0.45% to 98.73.
Investors kept an eye on upcoming U.S. data to gauge if the world's largest economy is strong enough to withstand further rate hikes in 2016. The U.S. is to release reports on building permits, housing starts and consumer price inflation at 8:30AM ET Wednesday.
Data on U.S. retail sales, manufacturing activity and industrial production all fell short of market expectations last week, the latest indication that economic growth stalled in the fourth quarter.
The downbeat data could persuade the Federal Reserve to delay its next interest rate beyond the first quarter.
In earnings news, Goldman Sachs (N:GS) shares were little changed ahead of the release of its fourth quarter earnings report due before the opening bell.
U.S.-listed stock of Royal Dutch Shell (N:RDSa) lost 4.4% after the oil giant forecast fourth-quarter profit fell as much as 50%.
International Business Machines (N:IBM) retreated 4.8% in pre-market trade after the computer maker late Tuesday reported a drop in fourth-quarter earnings.
On the other hand, Netflix (O:NFLX) jumped 4.5% after the media-streaming company late Tuesday released earnings that beat expectations.