Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a lower opening bell on Friday after Senate Republicans delayed a vote on their tax reform bill.
The S&P 500 futures inched down ten points or 0.39% as of 6:48 AM ET (11:48 AM GMT) while Dow futures slumped 55 points or 0.23%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell 39 points or 0.62%.
Senate Republicans delayed a vote on the highly anticipated tax reform bill over concerns about a fiscal “trigger.” The legislation will be revised and a vote is expected on Friday morning. Republican leaders are rushing to get the bill on United States President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of the year.
Stocks were broadly down across most major sectors, with financial stocks taking a hit in pre-market trading. Banco Santander (MC:SAN) SA ADR (NYSE:SAN) was down 0.60% while HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC ADR (NYSE:HSBC) fell 0.50% and Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) PLC ADR (NYSE:LYG) slumping 1.11% and ING Group NV ADR (NYSE:ING) decreasing 0.72%. Meanwhile Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was down 1.01% and telecommunications firm Nokia (HE:NOKIA) was down 1.20% after it started selling its Nokia 2 smartphone in the U.S.
Pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb) was among the top performers before the morning bell, rising 1.24% while computer software firm VMware Inc (NYSE:VMW) increased 2.42%.
In economic news, manufacturing PMI is expected at 9:45 AM ET (2:45 PM GMT), followed by the manufacturing ISM report on business and construction spending at 10 AM ET (3:00 PM GMT).
Stocks in Europe were down. Germany’s DAX slumped 138 points or 1.06% while in France the CAC 40 decreased 45 points or 0.85% and in London, the FTSE 100 was down 21 points or 0.29%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slipped 33 points or 0.94% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched down 40 points or 0.39%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.18% to $1,275.50 a troy ounce while crude oil futures increased 0.64% to $57.77 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched forward 0.02% at 92.99.