Since weak European data overshadowed better-than-expected Chinese manufacturing numbers, U.S. stock futures headed lower early Tuesday, as investors remained wary after a down day for Wall Street.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 35 points, or 0.2% to 17,064, while those for the S&P 500 index dipped 4.3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,982.
Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index (NDZ4) were weakest, off 14.75 points, or 0.4%, to 4,038.
Monday's session on Wall Street was particularly exhausting for technology and small-cap stocks, as investors got anxious about falling commodity prices and global growth. The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) lost 1.1%, while the Russell 2000 (RUT) dropped 1.5%, in its worst day since late July.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency will release July home prices at 9 a.m. Eastern Time, and the U.S. Markit 'flash' Purchasing Managers Index is due at 9:45 a.m. Eastern. A handful of Federal Reserve officials are due to speak, including Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, a voting member of the Fed policy committee, who will appear at a town hall forum at Northern Michigan University at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
Global data weighs
Stock futures, along with global stocks overall, failed to get a lift from better-than-expected Chinese data. The "flash" version of HSBC's manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 in September, versus 50.2 in August and expectations for a drop to 50.
But a Markit survey showed activity in the eurozone's private sector slowing in September to the lowest level so far this year.
"Europe is expected to be weak. I think stock futures ought to trade higher on good news from China," said Christian Tegllund Blaabjerg, senior strategist at Danske Bank in Copenhagen.
But tech stocks may be falling on concerns about the potential for weak demand out of the eurozone, given a slowdown, Tegllund Blaabjerg said.
Moreover, the fact that Apple Inc. saw first-weekend sales of 10 million iPhone 6 models should be a positive for these markets, he said. "It seems that if you are at a certain product level, you're independent of the investment cycle, suggesting there is still money out there somewhere," he said. The U.S. is seeing its weakest back-to-school shopping season since 2009, according to research firm Customer Growth Partners LLC, as reported by Bloomberg News Tuesday.
Stocks to watch
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. continued to fall in premarket, off around 2% after a fall in late trading Monday and a 4%-plus drop in the U.S. regular session.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. will release its second-quarter results after the close of markets.
Google Inc. may attract attention after the EU's competition chief Joaquín Almunia said the search company must improve its proposed settlement over antitrust concerns or face formal charges.
Hong Kong stocks closed lower, as casino stocks sold off. European stocks were in the red on the PMI data, with the benchmark index off 1%. As equities pulled back, beaten-down gold and silver moved up, while the dollar eased some against major crosses.
