US Stock Futures Signal Lower Start On Wall Street, Japan's Nikkei Tumbles 10.55%

US stock futures are lower this morning following a 10.55% drop in Japanese Nikkei Average, on reports that radiation was leaking from a Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 278 points to 11,648.00 and futures on the S&P 500 index dipped 35 points to 1,255.50. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 64.75 points to 2,224.75.

US stocks closed lower, with the blue-chip Dow index dropping 0.43% to close at 11,993.16 on Monday.

Investors are also awaiting a monetary-policy meeting by the Federal Reserve today.

Shares of Subaye Inc SBAY dipped more than 29% in pre-market trading after the company reported the resignation of its chief financial officer (CFO) James Crane. SBAY appointed its president and director Alan Lun as the company's new CFO.

Hewlett-Packard Company HPQ announced its plans to lift its quarterly dividend by 50% during a strategy briefing. The company is raising its regular quarterly dividend to $0.12 per share.

Texas Instruments Incorporated TXN warned of revenue loss from one of its manufacturing plants in Japan following the country's strong earthquake.

Japan's prime minister reported that radioactive material was leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima province.

The Nikkei Stock Average tumbled more than 14% in afternoon trade, but recovered slightly to close down 10.55% following 6.2% decline on Monday.

Asian markets ended lower, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropping 2.13% and China's Shanghai Composite falling 1.41%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.86% and India's Sensex dropped 1.49%.

Negative sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has dropped 3.69%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved down 3.09%.

Nymex crude-oil futures dropped about 1% in electronic trading. Light crude for April delivery fell $1.30 at $99.89 a barrel on Globex. The US dollar declined versus the Japanese yen.

Read more from Benzinga's Markets.