US pre-open: Stocks seen weaker as investors eye vote on tax reform bill

US futures pointed to a weaker open on Wall Street on Friday as investors awaited a vote on the tax reform bill.

At 1145 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.3%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were 0.4% and 0.7% lower, respectively. On Thursday, optimism over the Senate passing a bill to overhaul the US tax code helped to propel the Dow to a close above 24,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 also ended at an all-time high.

Late on Thursday, the US Senate delayed a vote on the Republicans' tax reform bill until Friday due to problems with an amendment to address a large expansion of the federal budget deficit that is expected to result from the measure.

IG analyst Joshua Mahony said: "With the US markets punching through 24,000, the ability to resume a bullish theme will come down to whether the Senate is able to overcome objections from three GOP senators, with a host of talks scheduled for this afternoon."

Konstantinos Anthis at ADS Securities said investors remain sceptical. "They know that even if the bill clears the Senate it will still take time to be formally made into law and this weighs down on dollar's outlook so patience is advised.

"Today the release of the manufacturing ISM report is the main data on the docket and we expect a softer reading that may force the dollar to give up some of its recent gains."

The ISM manufacturing reading is at 1500 GMT, along with Markit's manufacturing PMI and construction spending data. The Markit reading is expected to fall from 54.6 to 53.8, while the ISM number is forecast to slip from 58.7 to 58.4.

In corporate news, Boardriders, formerly known as Quiksilver, was likely to be in focus after it made a takeover bid for Australian rival Billabong valuing the group at $150m.

Blue Apron was higher in pre-market trade after the meal kit maker appointed a new chief executive as its co-founder stepped down.

Mylan shares were likely to be active following a CNBC report on Thursday that Amazon was in early talks with drug makers including Mylan as it looks to enter the pharmacy business.