Stocks headed for lower open

When Wall Street nearly collapsed

Would panic prevail? That was the question gripping the world in the days surrounding the fall of Lehman Brothers on Sept. 15, 2008. One year after that terrifying Monday, the people who struggled to cope with the financial crisis share what they were thinking as chaos broke out.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were set to slide at Monday's open, as investors pause in the recent surge on Wall Street.

At 7:42 a.m. ET, the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were lower.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

Wall Street touched fresh 2009 highs Friday and shook off pervasive calls for a September selloff.

But the week could get off to a slow start.

"You look at the run we had last week and you're going to have to find a pretty compelling catalyst to keep it moving higher," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. "At least in the early trade, you've got a market that's cautious at best, taking profits at worst."

On Tuesday, the Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day meeting on interest rate policy, with a decision and statement expected Wednesday afternoon.

"I'd be shocked to see the FOMC do anything that moves the needle," said Hogan.

Later this week, on Thursday, leaders from the Group of 20 nations will meet in Pittsburgh. On Sunday, Obama told CNN that the meeting will focus on a reshaping of the global economy.

The president also said that job growth will occur towards the end of the recovery, not the beginning, despite recent signs of an uplift.

Economy: The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators is due out after the open Monday. The index is forecast to have risen 0.7% in August after having risen 0.6% in July, according to a economists surveyed by Briefing.com.

Companies: PC maker Dell said it signed a $3.9 billion all-cash deal to buy Perot Systems, a Texas-based provider of information technology services. Dell, also based in Texas, said that the acquisition will broaden the range of its tech services business. The agreement is slated to close by the end of January.

Dell's (DELL, Fortune 500) stock price slipped about 5% in pre-market trading. Perot's (PER) stock surged 65% premarket.

World markets: Asian stocks eased, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong losing about 0.7%; Tokyo was closed for a holiday. Major markets in Europe dipped in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar rose versus major international currencies, including the euro, the yen and the British pound. The price of oil fell $1.38 a barrel to $70.66.