Investing.com – U.S. futures were down on Thursday, as trade fears resurfaced and investors waited for a flurry of earnings releases.
The S&P 500 futures fell 18 points or 0.64% to 2,792.75 as of 6:50 AM ET (10:50 GMT) while Dow futures were down 179 points or 0.71% to 25,110.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 55 points or 0.76% to 7,222.0.
Trade uncertainty continued to weigh on investors minds after reports that the White House plans to propose 25% tariffs instead of 10% on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods. The two largest economies in the world have been in a tit-for-tat trade war over the last few months, which has weighed heavily on markets.
On Wednesday U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the proposed increase was due to China refusing to meet U.S. demands.
China responded that “blackmail would not work and that it would retaliate if the U.S. continues to impose fresh trade tariffs. The Chinese yuan was near a one-year low due to trade war fear, with USD/CNH up 0.45% to 6.8553.
Earnings season continues into Thursday, with CBS Corp (NYSE:CBSa), Blue Apron Holdings Inc (NYSE:APRN), GoPro Inc (NASDAQ:GPRO), Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET), and many others expected to report their financial results.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) surged 8.36% in pre-market trading, after reporting higher than expected revenue and amid apologies from CEO Elon Musk for his past behavior. Meanwhile, Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) rose 3.88% while Logitech International SA (NASDAQ:LOGI) increased 2.20%.
Elsewhere Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 0.84%. Shares of the technology company only need to hit $207.50 for it to hit the $1 trillion in market capitalization. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 1.11% while Boeing (NYSE:BA) slumped 0.64%.
In economic news, jobless claims are due at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT), with factory orders at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT).
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 217 points or 1.71% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 43 points points or 0.79% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 100 points or 1.31%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 44 points or 1.25% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 122 points or 1.25%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.23% to $1,224.80 a troy ounce while crude oil futures were down 0.84% to $67.09 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.31% to 94.75.