Investing.com - U.S. futures fell on Wednesday as worries over the impact of the U.S.-China trade war weighed on investors after Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) lowered its yearly forecasts.
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) declined 4.6% after revenue declined by 6% in the third quarter as dealers cut their inventories against backdrop of economic uncertainty. Caterpillar said it expected further inventory reduction in the fourth quarter and slashed its earnings per share guidance by over 10%.
Nasdaq 100 futures fell 9 points or 0.1% by 6:49 AM ET (10:49 GMT), while Dow futures slipped 78 points or 0.3% and S&P 500 futures were down 4 points or 0.2%.
Earnings remains in focus for the rest of the session, with results from Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) before the open and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) after the close.
Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) slumped 9.1% in premarket trade after its forecast came in much worse than expected, increasing concerns about the global chipmaker industry in light of the long-running U.S.-China trade war.
Other semiconductors were lower, with NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) falling 1.9% and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) dipped 1.5%.
Apparel company Nike (NYSE:NKE) was in focus after reports that its CEO Mark Parker is stepping down early next year, but plans to stay on as executive chairman. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is also likely to garner attention, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify on Capitol Hill just one day after 47 attorney generals joined New York in an antitrust probe into the company.
On the data front, the Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index is released at 9:00 AM ET.
In commodities, gold futures gained 0.5% to $1,494.45 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.1% to 97.338. Crude oil futures declined 1.1% to $53.91 a barrel.