Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to sharp declines at the open Tuesday as a raft of geopolitical and economic concerns soured sentiment for global equities and investors awaited a slew of blue-chip earnings.
The blue-chip Dow futures slid 273 points, or 1.08%, by 6:43 AM ET (10:43 GMT), the S&P 500 futures lost 34 points, or 1.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 109 points, or 1.52%.
The declines came after a rally in Chinese equities reversed overnight, also pulling European stocks lower.
Pessimism gripped investors amid renewed concerns over a host of economic and geopolitical issues, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to pull out of the US-Russia nuclear arms agreement, U.S. midterm elections and the fallout from the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi.
Concerns over the U.S.-China trade war, the dispute over Italy’s budget and a lack of progress in Brexit negotiations also soured market sentiment..
Several major companies were to report earnings results ahead of the open, including Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), 3M (NYSE:MMM), Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Verizon (NYSE:VZ), and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG).
Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) and Capital One will be among big names reporting after the market close.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was in focus after announcing that it would acquire all outstanding shares of Japanese cosmetics firm Ci:z Holdings that it does not already own for 230 billion yen ($2.05 billion).
Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ) was also on watch after Reuters reported that the U.S.-based producer of Corona and Modelo beers is looking to sell some of its U.S. wine brands in a deal that could pull in more than $3 billion.
The economic calendar will be fairly quiet with the Richmond Fed’s monthly report on manufacturing activity due at 10:00AM ET (1400GMT). Appearances by Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari, Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic, Dallas Fed head Robert Kaplan, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans and Kansas City Fed chief Esther George will be watched.
The flight from risk saw investors piling into safe havens, with gold futures up 1.30%, or $15.90, % at $1,237.10, the Japanese yen rising 0.4% against the dollar and appetite for the 10-year Treasury pushing yields down their lowest level since July.
The yield, which moves inversely to bond prices, was last off 4.0 basis points to 3.154%.
In oil markets, investors were cautious ahead of the latest weekly releases of U.S. crude inventory data, with prices dropping to five-week lows. International benchmark Brent futures fell 2.05% to $78.19 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures traded down 1.42% at $68.19.