US equity markets may have had a bumper third quarter, but the final week could yet prove to be a rather more torrid affair.
The rhetoric between Beijing and Washington continues to escalate as the latest round of tariffs on Chinese imports to the US kicks in, whilst hostile language from Donald Trump directed at the oil industry is also providing cause for concern.
Even if Asian stocks are likely to bear the brunt of any downside from tariffs - and Hong Kong dropped sharply again today with many other markets closed for holidays - read across to Wall Street seems inevitable. As such, US index futures are currently eyeing a softer start to the week, notably reversing the trend we’ve observed in recent days.
Economic data is thin on the ground - there’s not much out of Europe this morning, although last week’s failure to progress Brexit could put some additional focus on comments from Mario Draghi at today’s ECON committee meeting. It really is however a case of focusing on the implications of worsening trade ties across the Pacific to see where markets may move next.
Ahead of the open we’re calling the Dow down 53 at 26690 and the S&P down 6 at 2924.