Major United States stock futures declined on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST) as investors braced for a key retail sales report and further first-quarter earnings updates.
By 9 am AEST (11 pm GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.4%, S&P 500 futures had fallen 0.7%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 1.1%.
In after-hours trading, Nvidia shed 6.2% after the company announced it would take a US$5.5 billion (A$8.69 billion) quarterly charge related to restrictions on exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and several other countries.
United Airlines gained 5.5% after the company posted adjusted earnings of $0.91 per share for the first quarter, topping expectations of $0.74 per share.
Elsewhere, Omnicom Group fell 5% following weaker-than-expected revenue amid ongoing economic uncertainty.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services also dropped 5.7% despite surpassing estimates on both revenue and profit.
During the regular session, U.S. indices closed slightly lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4%, the S&P 500 eased 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.05%.
Markets now await Wednesday morning’s release of U.S. retail sales data for March, expected to show a 1.3% increase, up from February’s 0.2% rise.
Wednesday also brings another flurry of corporate earnings, with results due from major firms including Travelers, U.S. Bancorp, Abbott Laboratories, ASML, and Citizens Financial.
