On Sunday, some of the speculation was finally taken out of the market when CIT Group, a lender to hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses, finally filed for bankruptcy. CIT's is the fifth largest bankruptcy by assets in U.S. history. The lender was hurt by the global financial crisis and the recession clobbered its loans. The court protection probably will keep money flowing to bondholders and 1 million customers, while shareholders and taxpayers won't be as fortunate. The U.S. Treasury Department said it won't recoup much, if any, of the $2.33 billion bailout money that went into CIT. The fate of many retailers, many of which depended on CIT for funds, is also not fully known either.

Economic data out this morning includes October's manufacturing index from the Institute for Supply Management, which is expected to rise to 53.0%, according to Briefing.com. Data on Septemeber pending home sales and construction spending is also due out. All off them will be released at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

Among companies reporting today, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) already posted results, saying it swung to third-quarter profit of $997 million, or 29 cents a share, from a loss of $161 million, or 7 cents a share in the year-ago period. Results beat estimates calling for a loss.

Overseas, Asian markets played catch-up with Wall Street and finished the session with big losses, but European stock markets rose modestly Monday, as solid manufacturing data out of Europe helped ease concerns that the global economic recovery is faltering. Similar encouraging data came out of Britain.

Meanwhile, oil prices hovered near $77 a barrel Monday after a big fall the previous trading session as investors eyed upcoming figures on the U.S. economy and a volatile dollar.