U.S. stock futures slip as investors turn risk averse

[June 06, 2017]  By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower on Tuesday as investors turned risk averse ahead of British elections and FBI Director James Comey's much-anticipated testimony before Congress later this week.

Comey plans to talk on Thursday about conversations in which President Donald Trump pressured him to drop his investigation into former national security adviser Mike Flynn, according to reports. Flynn was fired for failing to disclose conversations with Russian officials.

British Prime Minister Theresa May's lead over the opposition Labour Party ahead of the general election on Thursday has narrowed to just 1 percentage point, according to a poll conducted on Friday and Saturday before the latest attacks in London.

Other opinion polls in recent days have indicated a bigger leads for the Conservatives, some as high as 11 and 12 points.

Oil prices fell further below $50 a barrel on concerns that a diplomatic rift between Qatar and several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, could undermine efforts by OPEC to tighten the market. [O/R]

Safe havens were in favor, with gold touching its highest in about seven weeks. Spot gold  was up 0.9 percent at $1291.46 an ounce.

Wall Street slipped on Monday as a drop in Apple partly offset gains in energy and financial stocks, some of the market's worst-performing sectors so far this year.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Still, stocks continue to hover around record levels, helped by a strong first-quarter corporate earnings season.

Investors are also keeping an eye on economic data after services sector activity slowed in May and worker productivity remained unchanged in the first quarter, suggesting limited scope for faster economic growth.

Shares of Perrigo <PRGO.N> fell 2 percent to $70.38 in premarket trading after the drugmaker said its chief executive officer planned to retire.

HD Supply Holdings <HDS.O> was down 5.5 percent at $39 after the industrial distributor said it would sell its waterworks unit to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $2.5 billion.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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