New uncertainty stemming from the war in Ukraine also weighed on sentiment. Russian forces shelled eastern and southern Ukraine on Wednesday, according to reports, which Washington said were signs that Moscow was preparing to formally annex territory captured in nearly five months of war.
Shares of Netflix Inc jumped 6.4% in pre-market trading after forecasting a return to subscriber growth in the third quarter after posting a drop of 1 million subscribers in the second quarter.
The streaming service provider was among the first of the major technology companies to release its quarterly results, raising hopes that they will perform well despite a tough global economic backdrop.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 2% on Tuesday, while the Nasdaq index rose 3%, on strong corporate results.
Nasdaq futures were flat on Wednesday.
“Futures were pointing to a higher open to build on yesterday’s strong rally, however, they have since moved down a bit, so I doubt any gains are coming,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
“Once the results are in, if we see a repeat of yesterday (good streak of results), I think the profit taking will be short-lived.”
While Friday’s upbeat data on retail sales and consumer sentiment eased some worries about the economy, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Concerns about a recession or sharp recession remain due to interest in controlling inflation.
For this reporting season, analysts expect overall S&P 500 earnings to grow 5.8% year over year, down from a 6.8% estimate earlier in the quarter. According to Refinitiv data.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that a complete shutdown of Russian gas flows to Europe was a “likely scenario”.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc gained 0.8% ahead of its post-market earnings release, while shares of Apple Inc, Amazon.com and Meta Platforms Inc added between 0.1% and 0.3%.
At 6:58 a.m., the Dow e-minis were down 48 points, or 0.15%, the S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.5 points, or 0.14%, and the Nasdaq 100 was down 5.25 points, or 0.04%.
