Near 9:08 a.m. ET, Dow futures were down 61 points, S&P 500 futures were down 7 points, and Nasdaq futures were down 12 points. Stocks closed positive last week after some volatile sessions that followed successive daily devaluations of the Chinese yuan.
The Empire State Manufacturing activity report was a huge miss. The general business conditions index fell to -14.92 from 3.9, the lowest level since 2009. The indexes for new orders and shipments fell, and employment was flat during the survey period.
Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson wrote in a client note: "Grim, but likely overstating the grimness on a national basis." Barclays economists are looking ahead to the Philadelphia Fed's report on Thursday for a more complete picture of manufacturing activity in the northeast.
The NAHB housing index is due at 10:a.m. ET. Business Insider's Sam Ro has your complete preview of all the big economic events this week here.
We got some M&A news to start the week. Zulily is getting acquired by Liberty Interactive Corporation (owner of TV home shopping channel QVC) for $18.75 per share, valuing the e-commerce company at $2.4 billion.
Zulily shares spiked 50% in premarket trading. The stock has fallen 66% over the past year.
Crude oil prices are weaker. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell to as low as $42.27 in New York. Data from driller Baker Hughes showed a rise in the oil rig count for a fourth straight week.