U.S. futures lower amid "sequester" worries; Dow Jones down 0.24%

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of upcoming U.S. budget talks, expected later in the day, while renewed concerns over the situation in the euro zone weighed. 

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.24% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.35% drop, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.25% loss. 

Markets were jittery as the "sequester" of USD85 billion of automatic spending cuts was set to hit at midnight on Friday. 

U.S. President Barack Obama was to meet with Congressional leaders at the White House during the day to discuss ways to avoid sequestration striking, but hopes were low for a deal as Democrats and Republicans have so far failed to reach a compromise. 

Meanwhile, disappointing data from the euro zone sparked fresh concerns over the outlook for growth in the bloc. A report earlier showed that the unemployment rate in the euro zone rose to a new record high of 11.9% in January from 11.8% the previous month. 

Retailers were likely to be in focus, as Gap's fourth-quarter profit beat estimates, thanks to higher comparable store sales in North America. Shares surged 2.36% in after-hour trade. 

Financial stocks were also expected to be active, after Bank of America said in a securities filing on Thursday that the New York State Attorney General was investigating the bank over its purchase, securitization and underwriting of home loans.

The news sent shares in the U.S. lender down 0.36% in pre-market trade. 

Consumer electronics group Best Buy was also lower in early trading, dropping 0.67%, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company ended talks with founder Richard Schulze over a deal in which he and a group of buyout firms were proposing to take a minority stake in the firm in exchange for three seats on the board. 

Elsewhere in company news, Boeing was reportedly preparing to cut hundreds of jobs at a South Carolina plant that makes 787 Dreamliners over the course of this year. 

Separately, Groupon, up 4.19% pre-market, fired on Thursday Andrew Mason as CEO for failing to put an end to the gradual erosion of the company's main daily deals business. 

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were sharply lower. The EURO STOXX 50 plummeted 1.24%, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 1.16%, Germany's DAX retreated 0.92%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.51%. 

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.61%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced 0.41%. 

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a report from the Institute of Supply Management on manufacturing activity, official data on personal spending and revised data on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.