US pre-open: Futures mostly lower amid resurgent recession fears

Wall Street futures were mostly lower ahead of the opening bell on Thursday as fears that the US economy may be headed for a recession reappeared.

As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones and S&P 500 futures were down 0.24% and 0.08%, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures were flat.

The Dow closed 234.21 points lower on Wednesday as major indices failed to extend their rebound from recent losses for another session.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: "There will be concern that a positive start to trading on Wall Street on Wednesday faded fast with all eyes now turning to today’s session and whether last night was just driven by a few big earnings disappointments or represents the start of a new downtrend."

In the corporate space, shares in Warner Brothers Discovery were in the red before the bell after it revealed it had taken a massive $9.1bn non-cash impairment charge at its networks division as it prepares to part ways with the NBA, while online dating company Bumble tanked in pre-market after slashing its FY revenue outlook amid growth fears.

Still to come, Eli Lilly and Under Armour were both slated to report earnings on Thursday.

On the macro front, weekly jobless claims data from the Labor Department will be out at 1330 BST, while June wholesale inventories numbers will follow at 1500 BST.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com