Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a lower opening bell on Friday as trade war tensions kept investors on edge.
The S&P 500 futures fell 5 points or 0.18% to 2,928.50 as of 6:51 AM ET (10:51 GMT) while Dow futures lost 41 points, or 0.15%, to 26,713.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 28 points, or 0.37%, to 7,522.50.
The U.S.-Sino trade war escalated on Monday, as U.S. duties on $200 billion of Chinese goods went into effect at 12:01 AM ET (4:01 GMT) and China accused the U.S. of bullying.
China cancelled mid-level trade talks with the U.S. as well as a proposed visit to Washington by Vice Premier Liu He which had been scheduled for this week, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Mining firm Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:GOLD) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, rising 5.99% after news that it was being bought by Canada’s Barrick Gold for $18 billion. Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) jumped 3.63%.
Meanwhile Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) increased 0.50% while semiconductor AMD gained 0.90%.
Elsewhere, Micron dipped 1.63% while medical marijuana company Tilray fell 9.76% and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) was down 0.57%. Luxury car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) decreased 0.94% after news it was hand-delivering the Model 3 to speed up sales.
In economic news, the Chicago Fed National Activity for August comes out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 36 points or 0.29% while in France the CAC 40 was down 11 points or 0.20% and in London the FTSE 100 decreased 8 points or 0.11%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 11 points or 0.33% while Spain’s IBEX 35 slumped 44 points or 0.47%.
In commodities, gold futures inched up 0.19% to $1,203.60 a troy ounce while crude oil futures surged 1.70% to $71.98 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.11% to 93.69.