Schacknow - TODAY'S PRIMER

Peter Schacknow, Senior Producer, CNBC Breaking News Desk

Already coming off its worst week in well over two years, Wall Street is primed for more losses this morning, following S&P's late Friday downgrade of the U.S. AAA debt rating to AA+.

Futures are pointing to a sharply lower opening, following the S&P 500's biggest weekly decline since November 2008. Japan's Nikkei Averages fell more than 2 percent overnight in response to the downgrade, but European shares are having a somewhat better session, with sentiment boosted by the ECB's bond buying program.

U.S. crude oil futures have slumped about $3 per barrel near the $83 per barrel mark - they've not closed below $83 since November 23, 2010.
The euro has been boosted by the ECB program, while the dollar has been volatile all session.

Treasuries - which logic might dictate would be the most volatile following the downgrade - haven't been, not moving much in either direction.

Gold continues its record breaking surge, rising above the $1700 an ounce mark. In the midst of the flurry over the U.S. downgrade came word that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner will remain in his job, putting to rest rumors that he'd been seeking to leave. Geithner is the last member of President Obama's original economic team still serving. There's no economic data scheduled for today in the U.S., which may be just as well, since attention is clearly focused on the downgrade and on the ECB's actions.

Earnings are likely to be similarly ignored, though this week is much lighter for quarterly numbers than the last two weeks have been, with few companies of note on the calendar for today.

If we do look for some stocks to watch, Dow component Verizon (VZ) is a candidate. 45,000 workers are out on strike, the company's first walkout since 2000, as Verizon and its unions fail to come to agreement on a new contract to replace one that expired over the weekend.

AIG (AIG) is reportedly planning to sue Bank of America (BAC) to recover more than $10 billion in losses in a $28 billion investment in mortgage backed securities. BofA told CNBC that AIG's losses are solely attributable to its own excesses and errors.