Investing.com – U.S. futures were lower on Tuesday, as investor sentiment cooled amid a lack of details on the trumpeted progress in trade talks between the U.S. and China.
On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would delay increasing tariffs to 25% on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, but a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world is far from concluded, with key differences yet to be resolved.
Investors are also looking ahead to testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who begins two days of testifying to Congress later in the day. Powell will appear before the Senate on Tuesday and the House on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 futures fell 8 points or 0.30% as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures slipped 116 points or 0.44% and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures declined 28 points or 0.40%.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slipped 2.9% after the Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal judge to hold its CEO Elon Musk in contempt for a tweet the SEC alleges violates a settlement he made with the agency.
Elsewhere, online crafts marketplace Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, jumping 9.8% after the company reported its revenue hit $200 million in the fourth-quarter. Hertz Global (NYSE:HTZ) rose 11.5% after its earnings beat estimates, while Tenet Healthcare (NYSE:THC) soared 16% on strong financial results.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) was down 2% after its profit and comparable sales were below expectations, while Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) slipped 3% and General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 2.5%, retracing after a 6.4% surge on Monday on news that Danaher (NYSE:DHR) will buy its biopharmaceutical division.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.15% to $1,327.55 a troy ounce, while crude oil slumped 0.13% to an almost one-and-a-half-week low of $55.41 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, decreased 0.08% to 96.195.