US pre-open: Futures point to losses as tech rout carries on

Wall Street futures were pointing to losses ahead of the bell on Tuesday as tech stocks continued on with their worst performance since March.

As of 1240 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.15%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were 0.76% and 2.47% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 159.42 points lower on Friday as technology shares suffered their worst sell-off in more than five months.

Besides the ongoing tech rout, geopolitical developments were also weighing on sentiment on Tuesday after China accused the US of "bullying" following the launch of Beijing's global data security initiative.

China's new programme comes as a result of Washington's continued crackdown on the Asian nation's largest tech firms and pressuring of other countries around the world to block access to them.

Donald Trump also recently discussed the concept of a "decoupling" from China and refusing to do business with the country all together as part of an effort to make America the "manufacturing superpower of the world".

Oanda's Craig Erlam said: "The US is returning after the long bank holiday weekend to a lively session on Tuesday, with tech stocks once again leading the way lower and braced for more turbulence."

On the macro front, confidence in the US economy increased among small-business owners in August, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

The NFIB's small business optimism index came in at 100.2 in August, a 1.4 point monthly increase - slightly above the historical 46-year average and expectations for a reading of 99.1.

Still to come, consumer credit figures for July will be released at 2000 BST.

In corporate news, Tesla shares were lower in pre-market trading after a rebalancing of the S&P 500 unexpectedly saw the electric carmaker out of the benchmark, while Boeing shares were also lower ahead of the open. Following a report from the Wall Street Journal that claimed production problems at a 787 Dreamliner factory led air-safety regulators to review potentially decade-long quality-control lapses.