Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wednesday morning, as the stuttering technology sector looked set to suffer further losses.
The blue-chip Dow futures declined 45 points, or around 0.2%, by 6:45AM ET (1145GMT), the S&P 500 futures dropped 4 points, or about 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures lost 30 points, or roughly 0.5%.
The VIX, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, was up again in early trading, its eighth day of gains in the last ten sessions.
All three major U.S. stock indexes ended lower on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 falling for a third straight session, a streak not seen since early August.
Tech stocks have by far seen the most selling this week, with investors shifting to banks and retailers, which are seen benefiting from the expected corporate tax cuts.
Markets are closely tracking the progress made by U.S. lawmakers to pass a bill that will overhaul the American tax system. Friday's deadline on a possible government shutdown will also be on investors' minds.
Perceived geopolitical risks also dented confidence with U.S. President Donald Trump due to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel later on Wednesday, a move the Palestinians' chief envoy to Great Britain said was "declaring war".
Besides politics, investors also looked ahead to key U.S. economic data due later in the session for fresh clues on the likely trajectory of monetary policy in the months ahead.
The highlight of Wednesday's economic calendar will be the ADP jobs report at 8:15AM ET (1315GMT), which is often seen as a warmup act for the big Friday government nonfarm payrolls report.
Switching focus to corporate earnings, American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO), Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU), Brown-Forman (NYSE:BFb) and H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) are some of the names set to report their latest financial figures.
Elsewhere, in Europe, most of the continent's bourses were under pressure in mid-morning trade, on course for their fourth loss in five sessions.
Earlier, Asian markets slipped across the board, with Japan's Nikkei tumbling nearly 2%, its biggest one-day percentage slide in eight months.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin continued its relentless advance, climbing to a fresh record high of $12,800 on the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange. It was not clear what caused the move higher other than new investors joining the upstart market, despite growing fears of an asset bubble.
In commodities, oil prices weakened amid speculation weekly supply data due later in the day will show a sizable gain in U.S. gasoline and fuel supplies. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report for the week ended Dec. 1 at 10:30AM ET (1530GMT).