By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

German bank's shares briefly hit lowest on record in Frankfurt

Wall Street stocks were poised to open slightly lower Friday as worries about the financial health of Deutsche Bank AG persisted and unsettled overseas markets.

But stocks appeared to be in for a calmer session with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures industrials futures off just 17 points to 18,080, while S&P 500 index futures slipped 1 point to 2,147.2. Nasdaq-100 index futures futures dropped 6.75 points to 4,838.25.

The Dow industrials closed nearly 200 points lower on Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-stocks-could-struggle-as-euphoria-over-opec-deal-fades-2016-09-29) after a report that some of the lender's biggest clients were pulling their investments (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fearful-clients-pull-billions-of-dollars-out-of-deutsche-bank-2016-09-30). Wall Street's CBOE Volatility index , or "fear gauge," jumped the most in three weeks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-streets-fear-gauge-jumps-the-most-in-3-weeks-on-deutsche-bank-worry-2016-09-29) at one point in that session.

Read:Deutsche Bank crisis threatens to roil global markets (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-crisis-in-european-banks-threatens-to-roil-global-markets-2016-09-28)

The S&P 500 index dropped nearly 1% on Thursday, with all sectors finishing in the red. Friday marks the end of the week, month and quarter, and the S&P 500 is down 0.6%, down 1%, and up 2.5%, respectively, with one session left to go.

Shares of Deutsche Bank (DBK.XE) briefly fell to their lowest level on record in Frankfurt on Friday, triggering sharp losses across European stock indexes. The German bank's U.S.-listed shares (DBK.XE) were up 1% in premarket trading, after closing 6.7% lower on Thursday.

The shares trimmed losses as reports emerged of a letter sent to Deutsche Bank employees (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-ceo-blames-market-forces-for-crisis-in-letter-to-employees-2016-09-30) by the lender's chief executive, John Cryan. The banking boss said recent media speculation that a group of hedge funds were reducing their exposure to the financial major was "causing unjustified concerns" and that the bank has "strong fundamentals".

European banks cast a shadow: Friday marked the first opportunity for European markets to react to the Deutsche Bank news. At one point, the German lender's shares dropped below 10 euros and traded at a record low.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-shares-hit-a-record-low-weighing-heavily-on-european-markets-2016-09-30) fell 1%, as banks across the region took a battering. Spain's IBEX 35 index was down nearly 2%.

"While we do not rule out the possibility of a renewed tension in the financial markets, the amplitude of such scenario is hard to price in," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at LGC.com, in a note to clients.

"We are already in a low-rate, post-crisis environment as the result of the 2007-2008 subprime crisis. The financial markets are certainly not well armored to face another financial crisis," Ozkardeskaya said.

Economic docket: Data on personal income, consumer spending and core inflation in August will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

The Chicago purchasing managers index for September is due at 9:45 a.m. Eastern, while consumer sentiment for the same month is scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern.

No speeches from Federal Reserve members are scheduled Friday.

Stocks to watch:Costco Wholesale Corp (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/costco-ernings-get-boost-from-switch-to-visa-2016-09-30).(COST) reported a surprise jump in earnings, helped by lower credit card fees after its new deal to accept Visa (V) cards.

Other markets: Oil prices continued to fall Friday, with U.S. crude down 20 cents, or 0.4%, to $47.63 a barrel. Deutsche Bank's woes weighed on the euro , which slumped to a new one-week low (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-slumps-to-one-week-low-as-deutsche-bank-fears-mount-2016-09-30) against the dollar on Friday.

Asian markets (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-shares-rattled-by-concerns-over-oil-deutsche-bank-2016-09-30) finished largely lower, with the Nikkei 225 index dropping 1.4%.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2016 07:24 ET (11:24 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.