Investing.com - Wall Street futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Thursday as market participants contemplated weak trading data from China and looked ahead to economic reports stateside, appearances from a couple of Federal Reserve (Fed) officials and the weekly data on U.S. crude inventories.
The blue-chip Dow futures lost 93 points, or 0.52%, by 6:54AM ET (10:54GMT), the S&P 500 futures fell 12 points, or 0.52%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 28 points, or 0.58%.
Data released earlier on Thursday, showed that China's September exports plunged, while imports unexpectedly shrank after picking up in August, suggesting signs of steadying in the world's second-largest economy may be short-lived.
Exports tumbled 10.0% from a year earlier, far worse than forecasts for a decline of 3.0%, while imports dropped 1.9%, compared to expectations for a gain of 1.0%.
That left China with a trade surplus of $41.99 billion for the month, the lowest in six months, the General Administration of Customs said on Thursday.
The surprisingly weak figures pointed to sluggish demand both at home and abroad, and deepened worries over the latest depreciation in the yuan, which hit a fresh six-year low against the U.S. dollar on Thursday.
The greenback hovered near seven-month highs against major rivals after minutes from the Fed's September meeting reaffirmed expectations of a December interest rate hike.
According to the minutes, several voting members of the policy committee judged a rate hike would be warranted "relatively soon" if the U.S. economy continued to strengthen.
Market participants awaited a speech from Fed chair Janet Yellen in the hopes that the head of the central bank may give more clarification on the timing of the next rate hike.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, bets were largely placed on December with the odds at 69.2%, while markets only priced in a 7.2% for November.
Later on Thursday both Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker and Minneapolis Fed chief Neel Kashkari were scheduled to make appearances.
Furthermore, investors will digest weekly jobless claims and import prices at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT), while the federal budget is due at 2:00PM ET (18:00GMT).
Markets also looked ahead to fresh information on the status of U.S. crude stockpiles, delayed by one day more than usual due to Monday's Columbus Day holiday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 11:00AM ET (15:00GMT) Thursday, amid analyst expectations for an increase of 650,000 barrels. This would be the first rise in oil stocks following five straight weeks of declines.
After markets closed Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels in the week ended October 7. That was much larger than the 250,000 barrels forecast by consensus.
U.S. crude futures inched up 0.02% to $50.19 by 6:56AM ET (10:56GMT), while Brent oil gained 0.12% to $51.87.
In company news, headlines were focused on the fact that Wells Fargo 's (NYSE:WFC) chairman and chief executive officer, John Stumpf, abruptly departed on Wednesday, bowing to pressure over its sales tactics that has damaged the bank's reputation and put Wall Street under renewed scrutiny.
The bank said Stumpf will retire effective immediately and would be replaced as chief executive by president and chief operating officer Tim Sloan.
The news comes after it was revealed that employees in Wells Fargo's community banking division opened about 2 million accounts without customer authorization, which resulted in the bank paying $185 million in penalties.
The bank's shares, which have slumped in the wake of the scandal, rose 1% in pre-market trading.
In earnings news, CSX (NASDAQ:CSX) may see some upside on Thursday after the number three U.S. railroad firm managed to beat consensus estimates with third-quarter profit. While waiting for the U.S. open, its shares had gained close to 3% in Wednesday’s after hours market.
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) and Winnebago (NYSE:WGO) are among companies set to report before the bell on Thursday morning, while Infosys (NYSE:INFY) is due to report after the close.
Friday will see Citigroup (NYSE:C), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo report.