Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a sharply lower open on Wall Street on Thursday as a top Huawei executive was arrested, fueling worries that it could reignite the U.S.-Sino trade dispute.
The S&P 500 futures fell 48 points or 1.80% to 2,653.25 as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures lost 458 points, or 1.83%, to 24.588. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 156 points, or 2.29%, to 6,647.12.
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer at the Chinese smartphone company Huawei was arrested in Canada on an an extradition request by the U.S. The U.S. has been investigating whether or not she violated sanctions against Iran.
Her arrest so soon after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day trade truce could threaten to derail any potential trade talks between the two countries.
Markets reopened on Thursday after being closed Wednesday to honor former President George H.W. Bush, who died last week.
Technology stocks were among the hardest hit premarket, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) down 2.34%, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) falling 3.21% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) dipping 1.64%.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 1.65% while Chinese social media company Momo Inc (NASDAQ:MOMO) slumped 12% after its earnings per share missed estimates.
Elsewhere, semiconductor company Marvell Technology Group Ltd (NASDAQ:MRVL) rose 5%, while Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) inched up 0.80%.
In economic news, ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) payrolls data comes out at 8:15 AM ET (13:15 GMT), while weekly jobless claims are released at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT) and ISM services activity data is out at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.10% to $1,241.30 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 3.03% to $51.29 a barrel.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last at 97.03, little changed for the day.