NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A sell-off in overseas markets and worries about U.S. economic strength could hit stocks in the early going Monday, despite a sharp drop in oil prices.

Stock futures, which predict the direction of stocks at the open, were down in early trading, after Japan's Nikkei closed nearly 2 percent lower following the gross domestic product report Friday that showed weak U.S. economic growth and Monday's reading of sluggish Japanese industrial output. Other major indexes in Asia also closed lower, and European markets were also off in early trading, with traders there pointing to the U.S. economic report.

Investors will get a new look at the U.S. economy at 8:30 a.m. ET when the Commerce Department reports on personal income and spending. Both readings are forecast to be up 0.3 percent, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com. The report also includes a closely watched inflation reading.

Oil prices fell below the $60 benchmark in early trading, as traders try to assess if OPEC will make good on its production cuts and weigh whether the U.S. economy will slow enough to trim oil consumption. U.S. light crude was down $1.02 to $59.74 a barrel in electronic trading, while Brent crude trading in London was $1.27 cents lower at $59.81.

The week includes other key economic readings, capped off by the closely watched September employment report due Friday. Economists are forecasting employers added 125,000 jobs in the month, but the August numbers came in at a disappointing 51,000 gain on a similar forecast. Stock strategists said the recent rally in stocks could be derailed by a series of weak economic readings or earnings shortfalls this week.

Wal-Mart Stores (Charts) reported disappointing October sales ahead of the all-important holiday season, as the No. 1 retailer said sales at stores open at least a year were up only 0.5 percent, well short of its earlier guidance, which was cut to close to 1 percent last week from its earlier 2 to 4 percent sales gain target. Shares of the Dow component were down 1.7 percent in heavy Frankfurt trading Monday.

Verizon Communications (Charts), another Dow component, is due to report results before the market open Monday, with analysts forecasting flat earnings. Shares of Verizon were little changed in Europe ahead of the report.

French electric-equipment maker Schneider Electric announced Monday it made a $6.1 billion cash offer to buy U.S. power-supplies and surge-protection-products manufacturer American Power Conversion (Charts), a 30.5 percent premium over its closing price Friday.

JPMorgan Chase (Charts), the nation's No. 3 financial services company, announced late Friday that it had received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission that one of its units is being investigated to see if kickbacks were paid to some mutual fund administrators. Shares were down 1 percent in light Frankfurt trading Monday.

The New York Times reported Monday that video sharing Web site YouTube, which was recently purchased by Google (Charts) for $1.65 billion, has begun to remove copyrighted material from the site, including clips from the cable network Comedy Central, a unit of Viacom (Charts),

Treasury prices were little changed, leaving the yield on the 10-year note near the 4.67 percent level reached late Friday following the GDP report. The dollar was slightly higher against the euro but slightly lower against the yen.

Stocks: Choppy waters ahead