Global stocks are selling off
Global government-bond yields continue to slide as investors buy them for their perceived safety, while riskier assets like stocks are being sold.
Near 7:35 a.m. ET, Dow futures were down 85 points (0.48%), S&P 500 futures were down 12 points (0.57%), and Nasdaq futures were down 30 points (0.68%).
All the major European and Asian indexes, including German's DAX and Japan's Nikkei, were red.
"Equity indices have gone for a dress-down and risk-off Friday, with major support levels breached or seeing meaningful tests," wrote Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets in a note.
"With event-risk related to next week's Fed policy update and a too-close-to-call UK referendum on EU membership the week after, investors are continuing to temper their appetite for risk assets into the weekend."
The S&P 500 ascended towards an all-time high early in the week, but hasn't yet found a catalyst to breach the record. The indexes closed little-changed on Thursday, with the Dow down 19 points.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was down one basis point to 1.659%, and approached the year-to-date low of 1.647% reached in February. The German 10-year Bund yield fell to a new another all-time low, of 0.021%.
US economic data is light today, with the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment report for June out at 10 a.m. ET. Just after 1 p.m., Baker Hughes will publish its weekly tally of US oil and gas rigs.