Futures point to a slightly lower open
U.S. stock futures were trading slightly lower on Tuesday with Washington-Beijing tensions in focus after President Donald Trump renewed his warning to ban TikTok by mid-September.
Speaking at a White House media briefing on Monday, the president also suggested that taxpayers should to get a “substantial portion” of the sale price from the potential acquisition of U.S. division of TikTok by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).
“A very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the treasury of the United States. The United States should be reimbursed or paid because without the United States they don’t have anything,” the president said. It is not clear under what authority his administration could demand such a payment.
Trump described the Chinese-owned app as “too big” and “too invasive,” and suggested that Microsoft is probably “better off buying the whole thing rather than 30 per cent of it.”
In a blog post published Sunday, Microsoft said it is pursuing the acquisition of TikTok’s U.S. operations after CEO Satya Nadella spoke with Trump.
As of 5:50 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow indicated a loss of 33 points to 26,525. The S&P 500 futures lost 7.88 points to 3,280.62 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were down 34.5 points, or 0.31% to 11,009.75.
Crude futures fall as virus resurgence fears weigh on fuel demand recover
Crude futures were also trading in the red on Tuesday morning as a resurgence of coronavirus infections raised concerns that fuel demand growth could stall.
By 5:50 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 62 cents, or 1.51% to $40.39 a barrel. International Brent crude futures were at $43.50 a barrel, down 65 cents, or 1.47%.
More than 18.3 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and 692,850 have died, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. reported over 48,000 new cases of coronavirus and 524 deaths on Monday.
Disney and Beyond Meat earnings eyed
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS)’s Q3 earnings scheduled to be announced after market close today. The House of Mouse is projected to report a loss of $1.25 billion, or 61 cents per share, on revenue of $12.4 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
Traders are also awaiting results from Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA), and Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI).
Analysts expect Beyond Meat to post a loss of 2 cents per share on revenue of $99.84 million. Activision Blizzard is expected to report earnings of 68 cents a share on revenue of $1.70 billion.
