US stock index futures dipped on Thursday as signs of rising tensions in the Middle East weighed on risk sentiment and investors sought more clarity on Washington's recent trade deals with China.
Shares of planemaker Boeing lost 7.6 per cent premarket after an Air India aircraft with more than 200 people crashed in India's western city of Ahmedabad, and aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.
Underscoring increased volatility in the Middle East, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday US personnel were being moved out of the region as it could be a "dangerous place" and the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
This came just days ahead of a planned sixth round of nuclear talks between the two countries. A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday Tehran will strike US bases in the region if nuclear negotiations fail and conflict arises.
China on Thursday affirmed a trade deal with the US, strengthening a delicate truce in the trade war that has roiled global markets for much of the year.
"Now that a consensus has been reached, both sides should abide by it," Lin Jian, a foreign ministry spokesperson for China, said at a regular news conference.
Traders also looked to gain more details on the trade framework discussed by officials from both sides at a two-day talk in London earlier this week.
At 06:48 am ET, Dow E-minis were down 269 points, or 0.63 per cent, S&P 500 E-minis were down 25.5 points, or 0.42 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 74 points, or 0.34 per cent.
Tesla shares lost 1.7 per cent and Nvidia declined about 1.1 per cent.
Among other movers, Oracle shares rose 7.7 per cent after the cloud service provider raised its annual revenue growth forecast citing increased demand from companies deploying artificial intelligence.
US-listed shares of gold miners also advanced, as bullion prices hit a one-week high.
Newmont gained 1.5 per cent, Harmony Gold was up 3.5 per cent and AngloGold Ashanti rose 4.2 per cent.
Shares of Oklo fell 5.8 per cent after the nuclear technology firm backed by Sam Altman launched a $400 million stock offering.
After a tame inflation report on Wednesday that provided investors with some reprieve, focus will now be on the May Producer Price Index data, which is due at 8:30 am ET, along with initial jobless claims data.
"May could be too soon to see the impact of tariffs, but softer demand may also be limiting pass through. We pencil in larger tariff effects starting later in the summer," said Citigroup strategists in a client note.
With investor bets increasing on Trump reaching favourable trade agreements with several trading partners in the coming weeks, the benchmark S&P 500 index is trading 2 per cent below its record high touched in February. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is about 2.7 per cent from record levels hit in December. — Reuters
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