US pre-open: Futures have stocks extending losses as trade tensions remain in focus

Wall Street futures had stocks opening lower yet again on Tuesday, following on from the serious losses seen during the previous session.

As of 1230 BST, Dow futures were down 0.12%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.09% and 0.14% lower, respectively.

The Dow closed 391 points lower on Monday, even as fears that ongoing tensions between the US and China could lead to a global recession mounted.

Market participants will be largely focussed on selloffs in regional markets, with protests in Hong Kong and a falling Argentine peso driving investors towards "safe haven" assets like US bonds and gold.

Something else that investors will remain wary of is the spread between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields, which narrowed to only 6 basis points on Monday, near its lowest level since 2007.

On the data front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index revealed that small-business owners' confidence in the US economy rose last month after slipping in June. The index came to 104.7 in July, up 1.4 points from the prior month.

"This is a confirmation that small business owners remain very optimistic about the economy despite all the talk about 'slowing,'" the NFIB report said.

"Expectations for business conditions, real sales, and expansion posted solid gains."

Still to come, July's consumer price index data was scheduled for release at 1330 BST.

In corporate news, JD.com, Advance Auto Parts, CDK Global, Adaptive Biotech and Change Healthcare were all set to report their latest quarterly figures on Tuesday.