OVERNIGHT

Investors will be looking at the debate minutes between the hawks and the doves in the latest Fed report to be released today in an attempt to get a handle on when interest rates will head up.

Meanwhile, overnight stocks in Asia took a dive with Japan's Topix (.TOPX) shedding 1.1 percent and the Nikkei (.N225) down 1.0 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1 percent, while Australia's main index (.AXJO) lost 0.9 percent.

China's markets  after a week-long break from moved up slightly with Shanghai (.SSEC) up 0.5 percent. But trouble, though many believe it is subsiding, in Hong Kong (.HSI), sent the market there down 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, oil absorbed another hit with Brent losing $1.18 to $90.93 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate down $1.07 to $87.78 as deflationary concerns continue to rule the day.

The International Monetary Fund's report released earlier apparently didn't do much to bolster investor confidence about a quick end to the global slowdown either.