US pre-open: Futures lower as Moody's cuts China's credit outlook

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Tuesday as investors temporarily turned their attention towards the world's second-largest economy.

As of 1250 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.32%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.44% and 0.63% lower, respectively.

The Dow closed 41.06 points lower on Monday, marking a departure from the Dow's recent winning streak.

In focus early on Tuesday was news that Moody's had lowered its outlook on China to 'negative' from 'stable' as debt levels across the nation continued to rise, with Beijing now moving to support the Chinese economy via fiscal stimulus measures. This news comes as the Caixin China services purchasing managers' index climbed to its highest in three months during November, diverging from the nation's official PMI reading and coming in at 51.5 last month, rising from 50.4 in October and 50.2 in September.

Elsewhere, news that the Reserve Bank of Australia had held its benchmark policy rate at 4.35% in its December meeting was also drawing an amount of attention, noting that while there had been encouraging signs on goods inflation, services price inflation has remained persistent. The Australian central bank's decision comes as many traders continue to speculate what moves the Federal Reserve may take at its upcoming policy meeting next week.

On the US macro front, S&P Global's November composite and services PMIs will be released at 1445 GMT, while the Institute for Supply Management's services PMI for November and October's JOLTS jobs survey will both be published at 1500 GMT.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Tuesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com