Investing.com – U.S. futures were flat on Tuesday as the U.S. Justice Department's charges against Chinese telecom company Huawei raised the uncertainty over the two countries making any progress during trade talks this week.
The Justice Department charged Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, on Monday, alleging the company stole trade secrets and evaded economic sanctions on Iran.
The news will overshadow trade talks between the U.S. and China, which are scheduled to begin on Wednesday. While the Chinese government is keen to avoid any further pressure on its slowing economy from new U.S. sanctions, any concessions so soon after the Huawei charges would require it to lose considerable face, both at home and abroad.
The S&P 500 futures fell 2 points or 0.08% as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures slipped 22 points, or 0.09%. Meanwhile tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 14 points, or 0.22%.
All three indexes tumbled on Monday after profit warnings from Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), with both companies citing slowing Chinese demand.
Earnings season continues on Tuesday, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) out after the markets close. Investors will be watching closely for further signs of slowing growth, after the company warned it would miss its revenue target for the quarter due to weak Chinese sales.
Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) are expected to report before the market opens.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) was among the top gainers in premarket trading, rising 1.03% after RBC Capital upgraded the company to outperform, according to Street Insider. Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose 0.05%, while Barrick Gold Corp (NYSE:GOLD) increased 1.62%.
Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) slumped 2.9% after its board of directors voted to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) fell 5.59% after the washing machine maker said costs and a stronger dollar will hit its 2019 profit, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slipped 0.87% and Square Inc (NYSE:SQ). dipped 3.79%.
In commodities, gold futures hit an eight-month high overnight on increasing demand for safe havens, before edging back to $1,306.65 a troy ounce, up 0.27%. Crude oil rebounded 0.88% to $52.45 a barrel after falling 3% on Monday.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.02% to 95.44.