Japan's stock futures down 2.4 percent after the quake, but market players say the slide may not be too deep because of the big cities and manufacturing facilities are not affected.
"Basically what has happened here is the earnings season ends in the United States and focus away from profits for the headline," said Cort Gwon, chief strategist at HudsonView Capital Management in New York.
"You have large global macro events that happened and everyone is focused on this event you have. It's almost this perfect storm over the last two days."
Oil prices fell in response to the earthquake, with Brent crude oil futures down 2.2 percent to near $ 113, and U.S. crude oil from 3.1 percent to nearly $ 100 as an earthquake closed dozens of plants in the third-largest oil consumer in the world .
S & P 500 futures lost 3.4 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to maturity of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 25 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell by 4.5 points.
Investors look at the Middle East and North Africa as police flooded the streets of the Saudi capital today seeking to block plans small demonstrations and protests were reported in the east.
The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.0 percent, in line with expectations, the biggest gain since October and the eighth straight monthly advance.
Insurer Aflac Inc. (AFL.N) down 2.2 percent to $ 54.50 in premarket and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKb.N) lost 1.4 percent to $ 83.91.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) kicks off the sale of its latest model iPad Friday and analysts expect the company to expand its market lead in developing a tablet computer.
resource: ap.reuters. com
