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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.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
((Shreyashi.Sanyal@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 8780 ; Reuters Messaging: Shreyashi.Sanyal.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
