Investing.com – U.S. futures slumped on Wednesday as trade war concerns spooked investors.
The S&P 500 futures fell 10 points or 0.37% to 2,718.50 as of 6:46 AM ET (10:46 GMT) while Dow futures decreased 117 points or 0.48% to 24,186.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost over 51 points or 0.73% to 7,052.25.
China is preparing for a full-on trade war with the U.S., according to macro-research firm SGH Macro Advisors. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) could also stop buying U.S. Treasurys, the report added.
China is a massive holder of U.S. Treasurys, and shedding those bonds could have an impact on markets. Meanwhile U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened a 20% tariffs on all car imports from the European Union.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) was among the hardest hit in pre-market trading, falling 1.43% after Bernstein analysts downgraded its stock while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) decreased 1.39% and semiconductor Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU)dipped 1.36%. Meanwhile Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) fell 0.80% while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) was down 0.73%.
Elsewhere AT&T (NYSE:T) rose 0.89% and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) inched up 0.15%.
In economic news, durable goods are released at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) and pending home sales data come out at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT). Investors will also be listening in to central bank speeches. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren will speak at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington while Fed Vice Chairman of Supervision Randal Quarles is expected to attend the Utah Bankers Association annual convention.
In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX rose 11 points or 0.09% while in France the CAC 40 increased seven points or 0.15% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up nine points or 0.13%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was down six points or 0.19% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 52 points or 0.54%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.06% to $1,260.60 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.86% to $71.14 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.04% to 94.40.