NEW YORK (AP) — Stock futures slid Friday with more evidence emerging that Europe's debt crisis has reached Asia, where trade is slowing faster than anyone expected.
The danger is that the painfully slow economic recovery in the U.S., not immune to ills in Europe or Asia, will stall.
Dow Jones industrial futures fell 43 points to 13,095 and the broader S&P futures dropped 5.3 points to 1,395. Nasdaq futures slipped 6.75 points to 2,711.
China revealed Friday that export growth in July tumbled to 1 percent from 11.3 percent growth just last month. The new reading fell way below forecasts of about 5 percent growth.
China's trade surplus with Europe, its biggest trading partner, narrowed by 37.9 percent.
The trade data out of China, the world's second-biggest economy, comes a day after it reported dismal factory production and retail sales data.
U.S. futures followed global markets downward.
In Europe, Germany's DAX fell 0.3 percent to 6,944 while the CAC-40 in France was 0.7 percent lower at 3,433. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.1 percent lower at 5,845.
There was little positive for investors to cling to in the U.S. either.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the government added $71 billion to the deficit in July. That would bring the deficit through the first 10 months of the budget year to $975 billion. Projections from the budget office have the budget deficit at the end of the budget year, on Sept. 30, hitting $1.17 trillion.
That report will be released by the Treasury Department at 2 p.m. Eastern Friday.
Also on Friday, J.C. Penney Co.'s second quarter earnings were much worse than expected and it withdrew its outlook for the year. Shares tumbled more than 8 percent in premarket trading.
The retailer lost $147 million during the quarter, and revenue tumbled almost 23 percent. Revenue at stores open at least a year fell 21.7 percent. That comparison is a key measure of retail health.