The negative session will cap a week of steady losses partly resulting from political chaos in Greece following inconclusive elections last Sunday that resulted in no clear winner and unsuccessful negotiations to form a government.
The Canadian dollar continued to head to lower as traders shunned risk and sought the safety of U.S. Treasuries, falling 0.29 of a cent to 99.54 cents US.
U.S. futures were lower after JPMorgan announced after markets closed Thursday that it lost US$2 billion in the past six weeks in a trading portfolio designed to hedge against risks the company takes with its own money.
The company's stock plunged almost eight per cent in after-hours trading, and the unexpected loss at one of the world's most venerated banks undermined investor confidence.
The Dow Jones industrial futures lost 56 points to 12,778, the Nasdaq futures fell 5.2 points to 2,613.5 and the S&P 500 futures were down 6.3 points to 1,351.3.
Meanwhile, investors wondered what steps the Chinese government could take to get the world's second-largest economy back on track.
Data released Friday showed that industrial production rose 9.3 per cent from a year earlier in April, slowing from a nearly 12 per cent increase in March.
Another report showed inflation also eased, to 3.4 per cent in April from 3.6 per cent the month before, giving the government greater leeway to ease policy to boost growth.
China's economy grew 8.1 per cent in the first quarter of the year, a still robust rate but its slowest pace since 2009. It was below the previous quarter's 8.9 per cent, but above the government's 7.5 per cent target for the year.
Commodities backed off following the release of the Chinese data with the June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down 79 cents to US$96.29 a barrel.
Metal prices also retreated with July copper off six cents to US$3.63 a pound. China is the world's biggest consumer of the metal which is viewed as an economic barometer as it is used in so many different industries.
Bullion prices also faded with the June contract in New York down $9.40 to US$1,586.10 an ounce.
The resource-heavy TSX is set for a second, straight weekly loss with energy and metal stocks continuing to lose ground on worries that the global economy is downshifting and eroding demand for commodities. The disappointing Chinese data follows a major disappointment in April job creation figures and weak manufacturing data from China and Europe.
Eurozone worries also weighed on markets.
Another general election is expected in Greece for next month following the failure of attempts to forge a government since Sunday's poll.
The head of a small left-wing party and potential kingmaker in Greece's coalition negotiations said Friday he will not join forces with the conservatives and socialists to form a government.
Fotis Kouvelis, who leads the Democratic Left party, said he cannot join any coalition that does not include the election runner-up, the Radical Left Coalition. So far, that party leader Alexis Tsipras has refused to join any government that does not reject the austerity terms of Greece's international bailout.
European bourses were negative as London's FTSE 100 slipped 0.44 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX was off 0.4 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 declined one per cent.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6 per cent, South Korea's Kospi lost 1.4 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.3 per cent.
In earnings news, TMX Group Inc. (TSX:X) reported a 10 per cent drop in first-quarter net profits to $56.8 million Friday as the operator of Canada's major financial markets saw a decline in quarterly revenues. Revenue was $162.3 million, down seven per cent from $174.7 million, largely due to lower revenue from issuer services and cash markets trading. The drop was partially offset by higher revenue from derivatives markets trading and clearing as well as higher information services revenue.
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