U.S. futures pointed to a lower opening for Wall Street on Tuesday amid lingering trade tensions, after U.S. President Donald Trump failed to provide clarity on the on-going conflict with Beijing in his visit to Japan.
On Monday, Trump said the U.S. was “not ready” to make a deal with China, but later said he expected a trade agreement in the future.
Dow futures fell 26 points or 0.1% by 6:42 AM ET (10:42 GMT), while tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 futures lost 11 points or 0.2% and S&P 500 futures was down 6 points or 0.2%.
Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, jumping 7.9% after it proposed merging with France’s Renault (PA:RENA), a move the French company will decide on as early as next week, Reuters reported.
Alibaba Group ADRs (NYSE:BABA) rose 0.5% after reports saying it aimed to raise up to $20 billion through a secondary offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange later this year.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) rose 0.6%, while PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) gained 0.3% and Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:SMI) surged 10.3% .
Elsewhere, streaming device company Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) fell 1.9%, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) inched down 0.2% and LivePerson (NASDAQ:LPSN) slumped 0.6%.
Demand for safe-haven assets rose, with yields on 10-Year US. Treasury bonds hitting an 18-month low overnight of 2.27%. Bond yields fall when prices rise.
On the economic front, data on national house prices come out at 9:00 AM ET (13:00 GMT), while the Conference Board's consumer confidence index is at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
In commodities, crude oil rose 0.8% to $59.12 a barrel, while Gold futures fell 0.04% to $1,283.15 a troy ounce. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, gained 0.2% to 97.67.
