By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a weaker start for Wall Street on Monday, amid a backdrop of economic worries and skidding overseas markets, with weak figures from Lowe's adding to the bearish sentiment. S&P 500 index futures were down 21.8 points, or 2.2%, to 984, while Nasdaq 100 futures were off 30.5 points, or 1.9%, to 1,584.50. Dow Jones Industrial futures fell 191 points, or 2.1%, to 9,130. Stocks finished weaker on Friday and for the week, as investors fretted that a nearly-six-month rally could be overdone in light of the still-shaky economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU 9,321, -76.79, -0.82%) fell 0.5% for the week, the S&P 500 Index (SPX 1,004, -8.64, -0.85%) lost 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP 1,986, -23.83, -1.19%) logged a weekly loss of 0.7%. On Friday, consumer sentiment as measured by the Reuters/University of Michigan index was worse than expected, a day after gloomy July-retail-sales data. David Buik, senior partner at BCG Partners in London, said there's growing concern about the "lack of retail momentum down in the U.S. shopping malls. 'Back to School' shopping plus Thanksgiving and Christmas are the 3 sales periods that are essential to decent retail numbers and to the welfare of the U.S. economy," he said. Buik said Wal-Mart Stores' (WMT 51.79, -0.09, -0.17%) results last week were "OK" partly due to its European outlets, while other retailers disappointed. Lowe's Cos. (LOW 22.83, -0.48, -2.06%) joined the list of retailers to miss market expectations when it reported a 19% drop in second-quarter profit to $759 million, or 51 cents a share. The result was below the consensus forecast of 54 cents a share, while the retailer's outlook for the third quarter and fiscal year were also below expectations. Shares in Lowe's dropped 7.6% in pre-open trading. Other retailers due to report this week include Home Depot (HD 27.14, -0.54, -1.95%) , Saks (SKS 5.84, -0.25, -4.11%) and Target (TGT 42.03, -0.21, -0.50%) on Tuesday. "The consumer confidence and retail issues are huge in the U.S. and markets are very worried about it," said Buik. "However I see this retrenchment as long overdue and very necessary for the long-term health of the market place. You cannot rally by between 40-45% without some sort of decent pull back!" Buik expects a 10% pull back in markets over the next few weeks, but then a renewed push to new levels in November and December. Economic data on the agenda for Monday include Empire State manufacturing survey for August at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time and the home builders' index for August at 1 p.m. Eastern. "The series is currently lagging the ISM and therefore carries an upside risk. An above consensus outcome is now needed to give risk sentiment a positive boost," said analysts at Lloyds TSB in their Daily Market Strategy. Overseas, markets were gloomy. European stocks fell in a broad-based decline with capital-adequacy worries weighing on banks after Swedish lender Swedbank said that it will raise around 15 billion Swedish kronor ($2.1 billion) by issuing shares in order to strengthen its capital base. Those shares were down over 5%. Mining shares also weighed on Europe, dragging the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx index (ST:SXXP 223.56, -5.21, -2.28%) down 2.2%. Meanwhile in Asia, the Shanghai Composite sank 5.8% to 2,830.63, closing below the 3,000 level for the first time since the end of June, marking the worst fall since November. Falling commodity prices and concerns over liquidity tightening measures by the government were blamed for the fall, with metal stocks hardest hit. The Hang Seng Index lost 3.5%. Crude futures were down $1.60 to $65.91, while gold futures were off $11.30 to $937.40. The dollar and yen got a lift against major rivals in Asian trading Monday, as weaker Chinese shares sent investors into the perceived safety of lower-yielding currencies. The euro was trading lower against the dollar at $1.4065, but the greenback was lower against the yen at 94.49 yen.

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