Amid a quiet economic day, geopolitical developments could take center stage for investors on Friday.
Asian shares finished mostly down, while European shares are trading in a negative zone.
Crude oil prices climbed higher.
Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower.
As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were declining 138.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were sliding 16.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were down 78.75 points.
The U.S. major averages closed modestly lower on Thursday. The Nasdaq fell 59.16 points or 0.3 percent to 17,691.63 and the S&P 500 dipped 12.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,662.89, while the narrower Dow edged down 11.31 points to 41,953.32.
On the economic front, the Baker Hughes Rig Count for the week will be released at 1.00 pm ET. In the prior week, the North America rig count was 791 and the U.S rig count was 592. The Canada rig count was 199.
New York Fed President John Williams will give keynote before the 2nd Biennial Macroeconometric Caribbean Conference organized by the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the Indiana University Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research at 1.00 pm ET.
China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 1.29 percent to 3,364.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.19 percent to 23,689.72.
Japanese markets ended mixed. The Nikkei average slid 0.20 percent to 37,677.06 while the broader Topix index settled 0.29 percent higher at 2,804.16.
Australian markets edged up slightly. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.16 percent at 7,931.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed up 0.12 percent at 8,158.70.
European shares are trading lower. Among the major indexes in the region, the CAC 40 Index of France is declining points 63.65 or 0.79 percent. The German DAX is falling 157.02 points or 0.68 percent, the U.K. FTSE 100 Index is sliding 41.37 points or 0.48 percent.
The Swiss Market Index is declining 38.51 points or 0.29 percent.
The Euro Stoxx 50 Index, which is a compilation of 50 blue chip stocks across the euro area, is down 0.64 percent.
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