Stocks were set for a weak open on Monday as security fears swept over Wall Street amid signs that al Qaeda may have been behind last week's deadly bomb attack in Madrid. "It just unsettles psychology," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. "If you want to buy stocks because you are confident in the future, this helps to temper that enthusiasm." News over the weekend that a purported spokesman for the Islamic militant group al Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the bombings, which killed 200 people, sparked fears that additional attacks could hamper the global economic recovery. U.S. equity futures tracked European markets lower. Futures fell 4 points for the S&P 500, dropped 28 for the Dow industrials and fell 7.50 points for the Nasdaq 100.
Spanish stocks ranked among the biggest losers in Europe. Madrid's IBEX <.IBEX> index fell more than 2 percent as a surprise win by the Socialists in Sunday's general election also raised concerns over the future direction of economic policy. Investors overseas gravitated toward safe-haven government bonds and gold. The dollar fell half a percent against the euro and a full percent against the Swiss franc, another traditional safe haven. Investors in Asia managed to put aside security fears and chased Friday's Wall Street rally, sending most major indexes higher. Wall Street will face a busy week of economic data. The New York Fed's Manufacturing Survey for March is due before the opening bell and industrial production and capacity utilization for February are due out at 9:15 a.m. (1415 GMT). Housing starts, consumer prices and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve survey of business conditions are set for later this week. The Federal Reserve will hold its monetary-policy meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but investors will be listening for any shift in the Fed's outlook. Electronic Data Systems , the No. 2 U.S. technology services provider, announced a major deal over the weekend. The company on Sunday said it agreed to sell a software unit to three buyout firms for $2.05 billion in a move to cut debt and focus on its information technology and outsourcing operations. Shares closed at $19.15. Medtronic Inc. said on Monday before the open it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the first fully automated pacemaker to speed up slow heart beats. The world's biggest medical technology company closed at $50.63. Intersil Corp. said on Monday before the open that it agreed to buy Xicor Inc. , a supplier of components such as power management, for $529 million in cash and stock in a deal aimed at strengthening its product range. Intersil closed at $22.63, while Xicor ended at $13.74. On Friday, U.S. stocks staged a robust recovery after four days of heavy losses, but all the major stock indexes suffered the biggest weekly declines since September. Last week, the Nasdaq lost 3.07 percent, the Dow ended down 3.35 percent and the S&P 500 ended off 3.14 percent. On Friday, the Dow industrials <.DJI> closed up 111.70 points, or 1.10 percent, at 10,240.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> ended up 13.79 points, or 1.25 percent, at 1,120.57, while the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> finished up 40.84 points, or 2.10 percent, at 1,984.73.///