US pre-open: Futures point to losses as trade tensions remain in focus

June trading looked set to begin much like May ended, with investors fretting over Donald Trump's ongoing efforts to cause to a global trade war.

As of 1145 BST, Dow futures had the index opening 0.25% lower at 24,757, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq looked set to start the month out 0.28% and 0.43% weaker, respectively.

SpreadEx analyst Connor Campbell said: "The Dow Jones looks like it will match the European markets when it opens later this afternoon. The forecast 0.4% drop would leave the index 10 or so points above 24,700, a level last struck more than 5 months ago."

The Dow tumbled more than 350 points on Friday after the President announced he would impose a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports from 10 June.

Tensions between the US and China escalated again over the weekend after the two countries clashed over trade, technology and security issues.

A senior Chinese official and trade negotiator said on Sunday that the White House would not be able to pressure the Asian superpower into a trade deal.

Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen also refused to reveal whether or not the leaders of both countries would attempt to work out an agreement at the G20 summit later in the month.

His remarks came before the start of the US president's three-day state visit to the UK on Monday, a day after throwing his support behind outspoken eurosceptic Nigel Farage.

Trump praised Farage, a vocal supporter of a no-deal Brexit, saying the country should be prepared to crash out of the EU on Halloween.

"[Farage] has a lot to offer," he said in an interview with the Sun. "He is a very smart person. They won’t bring him in [to negotiations]. Think how well they would do if they did. They just haven’t figured that out yet."

On the data front, a final reading of manufacturing PMI data for May will be released at around 1445 BST, while the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for May and construction spending figures for April will follow at 1500 BST.

In terms of earnings, both Box and Coupa Software are slated to post their latest quarterly results after the close.

Cypress Semiconductor shares were inching lower ahead of the open even after news broke that would be acquired by German chipmaker Infineon Technologies for an enterprise value of $10.1bn.