Stock futures indicated yet another lower open for U.S. stocks Monday morning as investors still digested recent data that suggests not only an economic slowdown, perhaps even a recession, at the same time as it suggested prices are increasing and higher inflation looms bright.

Not helping the mood this morning were former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who spoke on ABC's This Week, voicing his own concerns about the economy stands a higher chance these days to go into stagflation where economic growth is stagnant while prices are pressured upward. Greenspan also called for the government to give homeowners who have problems paying their mortgage, some sort of financial aid.

Meanwhile, the holiday shopping season isn't going too well at both brick-and-mortar as well as online retailers. The weather has kept many from shopping the past weekend, as did economic concerns. Despite the weather not being a factor, it seems that web stores have also struggled.

These concerns may stop the Fed's current easing mode of the past three meetings as it attempts to juggle the economy falling into a recession, easing the pressures in the credit market, while keeping inflation in check.

No doubt, one of the concerns consumer face are rising gas prices, which don't show any indication of coming down any time soon. Oil prices rose Monday following the recent winter storm, that is expected to boost fuel demand.

Adding to the somber mood was Moody's Investors Service that warned late Friday that AAA ratings of four leading bond insurers could be downgraded.

Some economic data will be in focus today, mainly including a reading on home builders' confidence. The National Association of Home Builders releases its monthly index for December at 1 p.m. EST.
Also on tap is the government's third-quarter current account and a key regional manufacturing reading by the New York Federal Reserve. Both are slated for release at 8:30 a.m. EST.

Deal news, however, may give some hope:

• Ingersoll-Rand Co. (NYSE: IR) agreed to buy Trane Inc. (NYSE: TT) for $10.1 billion in cash and stock, paying $36.50 in cash and 0.23 of a share for Trane. This values Trane shares at $47.81, a 29% premium over Friday's close.
• Aon Corp. (NYSE: AOC) agreed to sell two units to Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE) and Munich Re for a combined $2.75 billion and plans to use the proceeds to buy back shares.
• Finally, the Wall Street Journal reports that Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is nearing a decision regarding the fate of its Jaguar and Land Rover brands with the automaker set to announce a preferred bidder as early as this week. So far, "people familiar with the prcess" say that a unit of Indian conglomerate Tata Group is seen as having an edge over others.

Overseas, Asian and European markets dropped.