[BRIEFING.COM] S& P futures vs fair value: -6.70. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -6.50. U.S. equity futures are firmly lower amid downbeat overseas trade. The S& P 500 futures are down 0.6%.

Overnight, the global equity markets continued showing weakness. Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.9% each. On the other hand, China's Shanghai Composite outperformed and registered a more palatable decline of 0.1%. Contributing to the outperformance was better-than-expected inflation data as the month-over-month CPI shed 0.1% on expectations of a 0.1% increase. Meanwhile, the country's PPI declined 2.8% year-over-year, while forecast called for a 2.7% decrease. This could potentially give the People's Bank of China some room to adjust the rates with inflation in-check. Also of note, China's retail sales and industrial production exceeded expectations, which added fuel to the recovery story. Elsewhere, in its quarterly policy statement, the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its GDP forecast by 25 basis points to 2.75% while also lowering its projections on mining investment. The cloudy outlook put pressure on the mining sector as Deep Yellow and Tanami Gold both lost near 10.0%. In other Central Bank action, the Bank of Korea left rates unchanged, but cautioned about inflation risks due to rising grain prices.

In Europe, markets are under pressure, and Germany's DAX is down 1.3%. Germany's economics ministry painted a poor picture for the balance of 2012, citing weakness in the job market and expectations of anemic employment growth. The country's CPI pointed to no change on a monthly basis, while the year-over-year reading increased by 2.0%, as expected. Elsewhere, St. Louis Federal Reserve President, James Bullard, said overnight that operation twist will likely not be extended, but the Federal Open Market Committee may expand its purchasing program to other assets. The Bank President still sees 2013 GDP of 3.5%, and expects the U.S. to avoid the fiscal cliff. He also added that recent research suggests US monetary policy may be considerably easier than commonly thought. Looking at European indices, Germany's DAX is sliding 1.3%, while UK's FTSE is lower by 0.5% and France's CAC is off by 0.3%.

In U.S. corporate news, J.C. Penney (JCP 20.26, -1.43) is down 6.6% after reporting disappointing earnings. During the third quarter, the retailer earned $0.71 per share, which was $0.01 worse than the Capital IQ consensus estimate. Meanwhile, the revenue of $2.71 billion was in-line with expectations. The company's outlook was mixed as it expects lower full-year 2013 earnings, but sees a slight uptick in same-store sales.

Kayak Software (KYAK 39.24, +8.20) is surging 26.4% after agreeing to be acquired by Priceline (PCLN 616.00, -11.87). Per the agreement, PCLN will pay $40.00 per share of KYAK, representing a 28.9% premium to Kayak's Thursday closing price.

Groupon (GRPN 3.25, -0.67) is sliding 17.1% following another round of earnings which failed to please investors. The online coupon site's revenue of $568.6 million fell short of the expected $592.06 million. GRPN is down over 80.0% since its initial public offering last year.

In today's economic data, October export prices ex-agriculture and import prices ex-oil will be reported at 8:30 ET. In addition, the November Michigan Sentiment and September wholesale inventories will be announced at 9:55 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.

President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner will address the fiscal cliff at 13:00 ET.