US pre-open: Stocks seen lower as oil prices decline

US futures pointed to a weaker open on Wall Street amid falling oil prices.

At 1150 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.7% while Nasdaq futures were 0.6% lower.

Meanwhile, oil prices were in the red amid ongoing supply glut concerns as hopes of a coordinated freeze agreement at the upcoming OPEC meeting in Doha fade.

West Texas Intermediate was down 0.8% to $35.43 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.9% lower at $37.37.

“A three-week low in the price of oil goes someway to explaining deteriorating market sentiment, although the pullback in equities has not been as severe as the one in oil,” said CMC Markets’ Jasper Lawler.

“The Kuwait oil minister saying that 'all signs' point to agreement on an output freeze at the meeting of producers in Doha must have meant all the signs not written in Persian. Iran, one of the world’s largest producer when at full capacity, has shown a determination not to freeze production and the Saudi’s appear unwilling to take any action without Iran.”

Investors also digested comments from International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde and Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans.

In a speech at a German university, Lagarde cautioned that risks to global growth were rising as she urged the world’s economies to boost growth.

Meanwhile, Evans said in Hong Kong that markets were more pessimistic than the Federal Reserve in their pricing of US interest rate hikes.

On the corporate front, Allergan shares tumbled in pre-market trade after the US Treasury Department announced new rules to curb corporate tax inversion that could threaten its takeover of Pfizer.

Electric car maker Tesla Motors was in the red after saying late on Monday that it had missed its sales goals for the Model X.

Walt Disney was also lower after it announced the departure of chief operating officer Thomas Staggs late on Monday.

Still to come on the macroeconomic calendar, Markit’s US services PMI is due at 1445 BST, while JOLTS job openings are at 1500 BST.