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U.S. Stock futures followed global shares sharply lower on Monday morning, extending the worst weekly rout since 2008, on the heels of Standard & Poor's downgrade of American debt.

Today's Markets

As of 7:45 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 250 points to 11,151, S&P 500 futures tumbled 29.8 points to 1,168 and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 54.3 points to 2,134.

For the first time in history, S&P cut America's top-notch credit rating one notch to AA-plus from AAA after the close of trading on Friday.  The ratings company also said it may slice the ratings another notch over the next two years.  

Global markets sold off on the news on Sunday and into Monday morning. Indeed, the Japanese Nikkei 225 tumbled 2.2%, while European markets fell by more than 1% in mid-day trading there.

S&P's move came as a result of concerns over the country's substantial public debt burden and deep divides within Congress that almost sparked an unprecedented default on U.S. sovereign debt.  Moody's Investor Service, another ratings company, affirmed American's AAA rating, while Fitch is still performing a review.

The response by large investors has been mixed.  

BlackRock said in a release the move by S&P "does not imply a fundamental increase in risk" and shouldn't prompt investors to "change their behavior solely on the downgrade."  However, the company that manages $3.7 trillion in assets warned that "continued economic weakness and regulatory uncertainty ... may provide a signal to some investors to reassess their risk appetite."

A round of disappointing economic data, capped with a mixed monthly employment report has weighed heavily on sentiment in recent weeks.  There are only a handful of data releases scheduled for the first half of the week, however, traders are expected to pay close attention to the Federal Reserve's statement on Tuesday to see if the central bank signals another round of quantitative easing.

Global Governments Act

Meanwhile, global governments acted on Sunday to try to stem market fears across the world.  The European Central Bank said it was prepared to "actively implement" a program by which it would purchase Italian and Spanish debt.  European credit markets have been rattled as debt worries have cascaded from smaller economies like Greece to more substantial ones like Italy.  The Group of 7 finance ministers also made a statement late Sunday, saying it was prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to calm global markets that were slammed last week.

Still, many market participants questioned what actions global governments would be able to take to tame tumultuous markets. The statement by G7 "sought to bolster confidence but offered only consoling words," analysts at Barclays Capital wrote in a note to clients.

The broad S&P 500 plunged 7.2% last week -- the worst performance since November 2008, during the financial crisis.  The blue chips shed 5.8% for the week, while the Nasdaq plunged 8.1%.

In a sign of the uneasiness on Wall Street, gold, seen as a safe haven, has continually leaped to record highs.  The precious metal recently soared $57.50, or 3.5%, to $1,709 a troy ounce -- breaking the $1,700-mark for the first time.

Energy markets followed equity markets deep into the red.

Light, sweet crude dipped $2.79, or 3.2%, to $84.08 a barrel. Wholesale RBOB gasoline slid 7 cents, or 2.4%, to $2.74 a gallon.

The U.S. dollar slumped 0.11% against a basket of world currencies, while the euro dipped 0.76% against the greenback.

Prices at the pump moderated somewhat last week following the selloff in the futures markets.  A gallon of regular costs $3.66 on average nationwide, down from $3.71 last month, but considerably more than the $2.78 drivers paid last year, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge report.

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Donald Trump said this morning that S&P were made up of a bunch of arrogant (blankity blanks) and the reason they downgraded us had little to do with our economy.  He strongly implied they were enjoying putting us in our place and that it may be something like 9 to 18 years for us to get our AAA status back.