Investing.com – U.S. Futures were mixed on Thursday, as investors remained wary of a potential trade war.
The S&P 500 futures rose half a point or 0.02% to 2,754.50 as of 6:42 AM ET (10:42 GMT) while Dow futures increased 26 points or 0.10% to 24,814.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was down three and a half points or 0.05% to 7,054.50.
Trade war concerns have resurfaced among investors, as U.S. President Donald Trump considered imposing tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports.
The news comes just a week after Trump imposed steep import tariffs on steel and aluminum, although Canada and Mexico are exempt as the administration seeks to negotiate a trade deal. More tariffs could increase fears of a global trade war and weigh on investor appetite for riskier assets.
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading, rising 0.23% while semiconductor Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) increased 0.20% and Cheetah Mobile Inc (NYSE:CMCM) surged 3.94%.
Elsewhere British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) PLC ADR (NYSE:BTI) dipped 0.12% while ING Group NV ADR (NYSE:ING) wa down 0.11%.
In data news, jobless claims, the Empire State manufacturing survey, Philly fed survey and import prices come out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).
In Europe stocks were mostly up. Germany’s DAX rose 29 points or 0.24% while in France the CAC 40 increased 15 points or 0.29% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 11 points or 0.17%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 gained seven points or 0.22% while Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 39 points or 0.41%.
In commodities, gold futures were down 0.20% to $1,323.00 a troy ounce while crude oil futures rose 0.02% to $60.97 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.04% to 89.79.