Stocks - U.S. Futures Dip as Investors Remain Cautious on Trade Talks
Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street Wednesday, with investors remaining cautious as trade talks between the U.S. and China continued.
Markets remained wary after U.S. President Donald Trump repeated Tuesday that he would consider extending the March 1 deadline, when tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are set to rise to 25% from the current 10% if a deal is not reached.
A fresh round of talks began on Tuesday in Washington with higher-level discussion scheduled for later this week.
The S&P 500 futures fell 3 points or 0.11% as of 6:58 AM ET (11:58 GMT) while Dow futures slipped 38 points or 0.15% and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 5 points or 0.07%.
Earnings were also in focus, ahead of results from CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), The Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE), and Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR).
PG&E Corp (NYSE:PCG) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, rising 3.2% after Citi upgraded its stock, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) inched up 0.4% and Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) gained 0.7%.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) slumped 2.8% after it cancelled hundreds of flights due to mechanical problems. CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) fell 1.7% while LendingClub (NYSE:LC) decreased 7%.
On the central banking front, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its Jan. 30 policy meeting at 2:00 PM ET (19:00 GMT) Wednesday. Investors will pour over the minutes for further details on the bank’s pause in rate hikes.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.15% to $1,346.75 a troy ounce, while crude oil slipped 0.58% to $56.12 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, ticked up to 96.42.
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