US pre-open: Futures point to more losses as China vows to retaliate in trade war
Futures were pointing to more losses on Thursday after China vowed to counter the US's latest round of tariffs on $300bn- worth of goods from the Asian superpower.
As of 1215 BST, Dow futures had the index opening 0.60% lower, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had those two indices on track for losses of 0.45% and 0.86%, respectively.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed 800.49 points lower on Wednesday, making it the index's worst day of the year, driven by much weaker than expected economic data out of China and a report that Washington was not in fact easing back in its trade war with Beijing.
On Thursday morning the country's finance ministry said Washington's tariffs violated a consensus reached by the two countries' leaders at the 28 June G20 leaders' summit in Osaka, Japan.
Elsewhere, Hong Kong's government laid out plans for stimulus measures to help its struggling economy but also cut its growth forecast to flat for the rest of 2019, down from an already weak 0.5%.
Wednesday's massive sell-off on Wall Street was a result of a bond market phenomenon where the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note breaks below that on the two-year note. While far from perfect, an inversion of the yield curve had preceded every economic recession in US history.
The curve was still around the inversion point at the time of writing, even as the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to a new record low.
On the corporate front, Cisco shares were pounded ahead of the open after stating future earnings would be weaker than expected on the back of a "significant impact" from the US-China trade war.
Retailer Walmart's shares on the other hand were running up by 5.0% on the heels of its latest quarterly update.
JC Penney and Williams-Sonoma would post earnings throughout the course of the day, as will chipmaker NVIDIA.
In terms of data, August's Empire State Manufacturing Index will be published at 1330 BST, alongside initial jobless claims, retail sales and the Philadelphia Fed's business outlook survey.
The NAHB's Housing Market Index and business inventories will follow at 1500 BST.