By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

Facebook, Amazon, other FANG stocks tumble in premarket

U.S. stock-index futures fell sharply on Monday, pointing to heavy losses at the open as oil prices weakened and investors rushed to the perceived safety of gold, the yen and government bonds.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 239 points, or 1.5%, to 15,896, while S&P 500 futures dropped 28.55 points, or 1.5%, to 1,846. Nasdaq-100 futures fell 98.75 points, or 2.5%, to 3,922.75.

The losses come on the heels of the biggest weekly drop in a month for U.S. equities (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-gets-the-jitters-ahead-of-key-jobs-data-2016-02-05). The Nasdaq Composite fell 3.3% on Friday and logged a 5.4% weekly drop, its biggest in a month, as the so-called FANG stocks crumbled. Those stocks are Facebook Inc. (FB), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)

(GOOGL)Facebook shares fell 3% in premarket trade on Monday, while Netflix fell 2.8% and Twitter Inc. (TWTR) dropped close to 2%.

A mixed U.S. jobs report and weak oil prices played a role in last week's dives, which included a 1.6% weekly drop for the Dow industrials and a 3.1% slide for the S&P 500 . Oil prices lost more than 8% last week (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/crude-prices-steady-as-a-weak-dollar-lends-support-2016-02-05), and early Monday, WTI crude fell 78 cents, or 2.5%, to $30.11 a barrel.

Negative spillover from last week's jobs report drove futures lower, as investors took the weaker-than-expected report as a cause to believe that the wheels may be coming off the world's biggest economy: the U.S.

"While [Friday's jobs report] may previously have supported markets as delayed tightening means monetary conditions remain accommodative for longer, global growth fears appear to have surpassed rate hikes as being the biggest threat for investors, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"If the U.S. economy is booming as the Fed hikes, investors are less likely to be concerned. But if the wheels start to fall off during the tightening cycle at a time when growth elsewhere is slowing, investors may have a real problem," Erlam said.

Investors will be looking ahead to comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Wednesday and Thursday, when she testifies to Congress about the economy and monetary policy. Last week's jobs data prompted questions about the Fed's future interest-rate policy, as Friday's data showed slower jobs growth, but decent wage inflation.

There is no data scheduled for Monday, nor any Fed speeches. The week will end with retail sales data.

Read:Why consumers may keep economy from sinking (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-consumers-may-keep-economy-from-sinking-2016-02-07)

Stocks to watch

Hasbro Inc. (HAS) beat earnings and revenue estimates, boosted by sales of Star Wars toys.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (BCRX) shares slumped 60% after the pharmaceutical company reported failure in a study for a new drug to treat a rare genetic condition (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/biocryst-fails-in-study-for-new-drug-to-treat-rare-genetic-condition-2016-02-08).

Shares of LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. (LF) could be active after VTech Holdings Inc. (0303.HK) said it would buy the struggling educational toy maker for $72 million in cash (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/struggling-leapfrog-bought-by-vtech-for-72-million-2016-02-07).

Apollo Education Group Inc. (APOL) said it would be taken private in a $1.1 billion deal (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apollo-education-group-to-be-taken-private-2016-02-08).

Read:Disney, Coca-Cola headline consumer-heavy earnings week (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-coca-cola-headline-consumer-heavy-earnings-week-2016-02-07)

Other markets

As U.S. stock futures fell, European markets followed, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index dropping 2.1%. The Nikkei 225 index (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/japan-australia-stocks-start-the-day-down-on-fed-uncertainty-2016-02-07) closed up 1%, boosted by upbeat earnings, while many other markets in Asia were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. See: When are Chinese markets closed for holiday? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-is-chinas-stock-market-closed-for-lunar-new-year-2016-02-05)

Data over the weekend showed China's foreign currency reserves fell by $99.469 billion in January, hitting the lowest level in more than three years (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chinas-foreign-currency-reserves-drop-9947-bln-2016-02-06).

The dollar (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-rises-as-tokyo-stocks-recover-2016-02-08) pulled back against the Japanese yen, while gold prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-jumps-to-3-month-high-as-equities-continue-selloff-2016-02-08) rose $16.10, or 1.4%, to $1,173.70 an ounce. The yield on the 10-year benchmark note was 1.785%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 08, 2016 08:03 ET (13:03 GMT)