Stock futures slip as trade concerns, tech worries persist

[April 02, 2018]    By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on the first trading day of the new quarter as China's decision to raise import tariffs on U.S. products rekindled global trade war fears and technology stocks showed little signs of recovery.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 29, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Nasdaq futures <NQc1> pointed to a 0.6 percent decline at the open on Monday, as big names including Facebook <FB.O> and Amazon <AMZN.O> fell in premarket trading.

China, late on Sunday, said it would increase tariffs by up to 25 percent on 128 U.S. products, from frozen pork and wine to certain fruits and nuts, escalating a spat between the world's biggest economies. The move came in response to U.S. duties on imports of aluminum and steel.

U.S. President Donald Trump is separately preparing to impose tariffs of more than $50 billion targeting "largely high-technology" Chinese products.

At 7:18 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 113 points, or 0.47 percent, with 28,512 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 11 points, or 0.42 percent, with 78,340 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 58.25 points, or 0.88 percent, on volume of 32,382 contracts.

Amazon fell 1.5 percent after Trump launched his second attack over the weekend, accusing the world's biggest online retailer of getting unfairly cheap rates from the U.S. Postal Service and not paying enough tax.

Facebook was down marginally as the data scandal last month continued to weigh. On Monday, brokerage Pivotal Research slashed its price target to $138 from $152.

After stellar gains in 2017 and early this year, the S&P technology index <.SPLRCT> posted its worst performance in March in nearly two years.

Hit by concerns about a possible trade war, rising interest rates and valuations in the technology sector, the S&P 500 <.SPX> and the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> posted their worst declines in more than two years in the quarter ended March.

Nervous stock investors are hoping an unusually U.S. strong earnings season can restore some of the optimism that characterized equity markets last year.

Tesla <TSLA.O> shares fell about 5 percent after the electric car maker said the Model X vehicle that crashed was on Autopilot. The company also announced a recall.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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