US pre-open: Futures point lower as latest US-China tariffs kick in
Wall Street futures had stocks opening sharply lower following the Labor Day break and after the latest round of US-China trade tariffs kicked in at the weekend.
As of 1200 BST, Dow futures were down 0.83%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.86% and 1.00% lower, respectively.
Washington slapped a 15% tariff on over $125.0bn-worth of Chinese goods on Sunday, while China imposed its own new charges on US products, although some reports indicated that Beijing was in fact proceeding more slowly.
But Beijing also filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the latest round of US trade tariffs on Monday, claiming that they were in violation of the consensus reached by Donald Trump and Xi Jinping's representatives in Osaka, Japan.
And reports surfaced late on Monday according to which Beijing and Washington were struggling to agree a date for a face-to-face meeting in September after the US rejected China's request that the new tariffs be postponed.
Also at the weekend, Trump had claimed that trade officials from both sides still intended to meet later in September, despite the escalating tensions between the two nations.
AxiTrader's James Hughes said: "Wall Street index futures have remained under pressure coming out of the holiday weekend, with disarray still dominating when it comes to next steps in those critical Sino-US trade talks.
"Reports suggest that the two sides are struggling to agree on a plan when it comes to the next round of negotiations, with Beijing having now filed a complaint with the WTO over Washington's latest set of tariffs."
Elsewhere, market participants were likely to be focussed on Britain's constitutional crisis as a result of its head first tumble out of the European Union when MP's return from their summer break.
MPs were expected to apply for an emergency debate and attempt to take control of the agenda in the House of Commons as part of a move to stop a "no-deal" Brexit on 31 October.
On the data front, August's manufacturing PMI was scheduled for release at 1445 BST, while the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index and construction spending figures for July would be published at 1500 BST.
In corporate news, Boku, First National Energy and Coupa Software were all due to post results throughout the course of the day.