Stock futures off on anniversary of recession bottom

One year ago, markets hit a more than 12-year low in the wake of the financial crisis. The Dow has rallied about 62 percent since then.

The anniversary of our reaching depression levels is going to make some investors cautious and look to take profits, especially since commodities are weaker and there's an absence of market drivers, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.

S&P 500 futures fell 5 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 32 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 5.75 points.

Technology shares will also be in focus a day after Texas Instruments Inc raised its quarterly earnings and revenue forecast and said it was struggling to fill orders due to increased demand for chips.

Oil prices slipped back from eight-week highs, falling nearly 2 percent to $80.38 per barrel on a stronger dollar and expectations that crude inventories likely rose for a sixth straight week.

Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc put its security consulting business up for sale for $1.3 billion, the Financial Times reported.

Kroger Co is the only S&P 500 company scheduled to report quarterly results on Tuesday, while economic data includes the March IBD economic optimism report.

According to a quarterly survey by Manpower Inc , U.S. employers are slightly less willing to hire workers in the coming quarter than they were in the last period.

European equities dropped 0.7 percent in morning trade, with declines in financial and mining stocks outweighing strength in food producers such as Nestle , Unilever and Danone .

Tech stocks pushed the Nasdaq higher on Monday on an otherwise flat day for U.S. stocks, led by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd and Cisco Systems Inc
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About 7.06 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq in Monday's session, the second weakest total volume so far this year.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)