U.S. stock futures declined on Monday, with fears that the Federal Reserve may limit rate cuts this week weighing on global equity markets.

The Fed cut rates by three-quarters of a percentage point on Tuesday after a big sell-off in global markets.

Fed policy makers will announce their decision on short-term rates on Wednesday.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US99.35¢ this morning, up 0.05 of a cent from Friday’s close following a gain of about 2¢ last week.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In earnings news, Verizon Communications reported a 4% profit rise, helped by growing subscriptions to its mostly held mobile arm.

In M&A news, Alliance Data Systems said Blackstone likely won;t go through with its US$6.4 billion acquisition because of conditions being sought on the takeover by federal banking regulators.

In other news, U.S. retailer Sears said CEO Aylwin Lewis will step down and be replaced on an interim basis by Bruce Johnson, an executive vice president, as the retailer regroups to battle declining sales.

Gold futures rose US$6.10 to US$916.80 an ounce..

Crude-oil futures fell US$1.43 to US$89.28 a barrel.

Overseas, the Nikkei stock average dropped 4% in Tokyo. The world’s second-biggest steelmaker, Nippon Steel, dropped nearly 8% after reporting a 13% profit fall.

Stocks in Shanghai plummeted 7.2%, while shares in Hong Kong dropped 4.3%.

European bourses were also under pressure, as London’s FTSE 100 fell 2.05%, Frankfurt’s DAX gave up 1.71% and Paris’s CAC 40 lost 2.3%.

On Friday, early gains on the Toronto Stock Exchange were lost by midday leaving the S&P/TSX composite little changed.

The benchmark index closed down 12.43 points, or 0.1%, at 12,894.84.

The index managed to end the week 1.2% higher, after closing up in three of five sessions.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up, gaining 20.34 points, or .80%, to end the day at 2,554.06.

In New York, investors got anxious and stock markets closed down for the day, ahead of next week’s Fed rate announcement.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 171.4 points, or 1.4%, to 12,207.2. The S&P 500 dropped 21.46 points, or 1.6%, to 1,330.61.

And the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index shed 34.72 points, or 1.5%, to 2,326.20.

For the week, the Dow gained 0.9% and the S&P 500 advanced 0.4%, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.6%.