Investing.com - U.S. futures were lower on Wednesday as the possibility of a U.S. military strike on Syria left investors uneasy.
The S&P 500 futures was down 21 and a half points or 0.81% to 2,633.50 as of 6:44 AM ET (10:44 GMT) while Dow futures decreased 166 points or 0.68% to 24,185.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell 55 and a half points or 0.84% to 6,568.75.
U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a trip to Latin America on Tuesday to focus on a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, the White House said. Trump said he will respond to the attacks this week, once it was established who was responsible.
A missile or air-to-ground attack could provoke a response from Russia, which has added to investor concern.
Investors are closely watching technology stocks, as Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg heads to Congress for his second hearing on data privacy at 10:00 AM ET (14:00 GMT). Facebook shares were down 0.83% in pre-market trading.
Meanwhile Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) fell 0.90% while hotel firm Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc (NYSE:HLT) decreased 1.01% after an early exit from investor HNA Group.
Elsewhere Nokia (HE:NOKIA) Corp ADR (NYSE:NOK) rose 0.72% while Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBKGn) NA O.N. (NYSE:DB) was up 1.63% and cruise ship firm Carnival PLC (NYSE:CCL) was up 0.71%.
In economic news, the Commerce Department will publish March inflation figures at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT) while the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its most recent policy meeting at 2:00 PM ET (18:00 GMT). Investors will be watching both events closely for clues about the future pace of interest rate hikes.
In Europe stocks were down. Germany’s DAX fell 63 points or 0.51% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 22 points or 0.42% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 14 points or 0.20%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 13 points or 0.41% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down three and a half points or 0.04%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.27% to $1,349.60 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.66% to $65.94 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.13% to 89.20.