Investing.com – U.S. futures were flat on Wednesday as the Sino-U.S. trade war escalated and investors waited for earnings results.
The S&P 500 futures rose 1 point, or 0.03%, to 2,860.75 as of 6:50 AM ET (10:50 GMT) while Dow futures were up 12 points, or 0.05%, to 25,612.0. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was down half a point, or 0.01%,to 7,476.75.
The U.S. announced on Tuesday that it will impose a 25% tariff on $16 billion of Chinese goods on August 23, as the trade war between the two largest economies in the world escalates. It’s the second set of tariffs against China in two months. Beijing is likely to retaliate, dollar-for-dollar, with its own set of tariffs.
Earnings continues on Wednesday, with CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX), Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) and Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) just some of the companies expected to report.
Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) was among the top gainers in pre-market trading, surging 1.14% after it beat analysts expectations of sales despite a drop in daily active users. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose 0.30% while General Electric (NYSE:GE) was up 0.68%.
Elsewhere Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) fell 0.94%. The company soared 11% on Tuesday after Chief Executive Elon Musk said he was considering taking the luxury car maker private. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) slumped 1.04% after its earnings came in lower than expected.
In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX fell 9 points or 0.07% while in France the CAC 40 increased half a point or 0.01% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 59 points or 0.77%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 lost 3 points or 0.10% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down 13 points or 0.14%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.09% to $1,219.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures were up 0.04% to $69.20 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.03% to 95.03.