Investing.com – U.S. futures slumped on Thursday, lead by a steep decline in Apple shares after the iPhone maker slashed forecasts amid U.S.-Sino trade tensions.
The S&P 500 futures fell 44 points or 1.7% as of 6:40 AM ET (11:40 GMT) while Dow futures slumped 399 points, or 1.7%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased 175 points, or 2.7%.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 8.8% in premarket trading, after CEO Tim Cook said the company expects sales of $84 billion in the last quarter, down from earlier estimates of $89 billion to $93 billion.
“It's clear that the economy began to slow there for the second half and what I believe to be the case is the trade tensions between the United States and China put additional pressure on their economy,” Cook said in an interview with CNBC.
Semiconductors and chipmakers were also hit in premarket trading. Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD)fell 3.3% while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) dipped 1.6% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) decreased 2%.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) lost 2% while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slipped 2.6% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was down 2.3%.
Investors will also be watching for news of a possible deal on the budget, with the U.S. government shutdown reaching the 13th day. Democrats in the House of Representatives are expected to try and pass a bill that would provide temporary funding but it is not expected to pass the Senate as it does not include funding for a wall on the Mexican border.
In economic news, ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) nonfarm employment data comes out at 8:15 AM ET (13:15 GMT), with initial jobless claims at 8:30 AM ET (13:30 GMT) and ISM Manufacturing data for December expected at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 GMT).
In commodities, gold futures increased 0.4% to $1,288.75 a troy ounce, while crude oil fell 0.1% to $46.49 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.2% to 96.24.