US STOCKS-Wall St to fall at open on fears of likely U.S.-China tech cold war

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* China calls out U.S. 'wrong actions'
* Apple, chipmakers fall as trade tensions rise
* Trade-sensitive Boeing, Caterpillar drop
* L Brands jumps after quarterly earnings beat
* Futures fall: Dow 0.88%, S&P 0.80%, Nasdaq 1.08%

(Updates prices, adds comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
May 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
open lower on Thursday, as investors feared that the U.S.-China
trade spat could spiral into a technology cold war between the
two countries, with no signs of resolution in sight.
Beijing said Washington needs to correct its "wrong actions"
for trade talks to continue after the United States blacklisted
Huawei Technology Co Ltd HWT.UL last week. Although the Trump administration temporarily eased curbs on
the Chinese telecoms gear maker, tensions again mounted on
Wednesday following reports that the United States was
considering sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm
Hikvision.
Investors now fret that tit-for-tat tariffs and other
retaliatory actions by the world's two largest economies will
hold back global growth, especially hitting the high-growth
technology sector.
Apple Inc AAPL.O shares fell 1.6% in premarket trading,
while those of chipmakers, which have a higher revenue exposure
to China, also declined. Intel Corp INTC.O , Micron Technology
Inc MU.O and Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O slipped between 1.3% and
2.7%
Trade-sensitive industrial bellwether Boeing Co BA.N
slipped 1.9% and Caterpillar Inc CAT.N dropped 1.3%.
"It has moved into a broader trade war. Initially, it was
about tariffs and retaliation, now you're talking about banning
companies and it's not looking good in the near-term," said
Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg,
Florida.
"If you look at the U.S. economy a lot of the growth in
earnings comes from what's happening overseas. Now we see that's
not been helpful and as the domestic economy slows more than
expected, that also could have a negative impact."
Data from the eurozone added to the downbeat tone. A private
survey showed business growth accelerating at a
slower-than-expected pace this month, weighed down by a
deepening contraction in the bloc's manufacturing industry.
A report due later is expected to show Markit's purchasing
managers survey of U.S. manufacturing activity edged down to
52.5 in May from 52.6 in the previous month.
At 8:40 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were down 226 points,
or 0.88%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were down 23 points, or 0.8%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were down 80.5 points, or 1.08%.
The prolonged U.S.-China trade war has rattled financial
markets, knocking the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX index 3.4% off
its record high hit on May 1. The index is now on track to post
its worst monthly decline of the year.
Investors on Wednesday largely shrugged off the release of
minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, in
which officials agreed that their patient approach to setting
monetary policy could remain in place "for some time."
Retail earnings were mixed. L Brands Inc LB.N jumped 9.3%
after the retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly
earnings, helped by sales in its Bath & Body Works business.
Best Buy Co Inc BBY.N climbed 2.2% after the consumer
electronics retailer forecast second-quarter sales and profit
above estimates. Hormel Foods Corp HRL.N declined 4.4% after the packaged
meat producer cut its full-year earnings forecast.