Stock futures tumble with gov’t on verge of shu…

Stock futures on Wall Street were trading sharply lower Monday as investors braced for a potential government shutdown.

Dow Jones industrial average index futures declined 0.8%, Standard & Poor's 500 index futures lost 0.7% and Nasdaq index futures fell 0.5%.

Markets are under pressure as a budget battle in Washington threatens the first government shutdown in 17 years. Congress has just one day left to avert the crisis.

GOV'T SHUTDOWN: What to know

The U.S. government will reach its borrowing limit, or debt ceiling, on Tuesday. If Congress doesn't raise that limit, the government won't be able to pay all its bills and some 800,000 of the 2.1 million federal employees will not go to work.

On Friday, the Dow fell 0.5%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.4% and the Nasdaq lost 0.1%.

FRIDAY: Stocks fall as shutdown fears escalate

Global benchmarks were showing signs of jitters Monday ahead of the start to regular U.S. trading hours. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell over 2% and stocks on Hong Kong's Hang Seng index were down 1.3%.

Markets in Europe were further exercised by renewed political crisis in Italy, where former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said over the weekend that he will push for snap elections. A confidence vote on Prime Minister Enrico Letta's administration is due Tuesday. Italy's FTSE MIB index was down over 2%. Benchmarks across Europe also fell, many by around 1%.

Benchmark oil for November delivery fell $1.29 to $101.58 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 16 cents to close at $102.87 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

Contributing: Associated Press