Investors are trying to gauge the impact of the trade tensions between the U.S. and China and figure out where things are headed.
Dow Jones futures were down 0.38%. The S&P 500 lost 0.26% and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.22%.
U.S. stock indexes were mixed Wednesday, as traders moved to look past concerns of a trade war which have pressured stocks this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42.41 points to 24,657.80. The S&P 500 ticked 4.73 points higher to 2,767.32. The Nasdaq Composite rose 55.93 points to 7,781.52.
In company news, shares of 21st Century Fox climbed on Wednesday after the company announced that it had accepted a new, sweetened deal from Disney. 21st Century Fox is the parent company of FOX Business and Fox News.
Economic data released on Wednesday included existing home sales, which declined by 0.4% in May to 5.43 million, the second-consecutive month of declines.
In Thursday’s trading in Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite ended the day down 1.4% to a 2-year low.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the day also down 1.4%.
Japan’s Nikkei index finished the session higher by 0.61%
Financial shares may be active on Thursday, as the Federal Reserve prepares to begin releasing the first round of results from the central bank’s annual stress tests.
On the economic agenda, the Bank of England may give hints about where interest rates are headed, but no change in rates is expected at this meeting.
Ahead of that meeting, London’s FTSE was higher by 0.05%, Germany’s DAX was lower by 0.76% and France’s CAC was off 0.37%.
In the U.S., traders will examine the weekly jobless claims numbers and also the latest read on manufacturing in the Mid-Atlantic region with the Philly Fed report.
