U.S. stock index futures fell deep into the red ahead of Friday’s open, following negative sentiment in markets overseas.
Around 7:10 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 102 points, indicating a negative open of -102.23 points, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures also pointing to a downbeat start to the day.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his country “there are various campaigns being carried out” against Turkey, helping send the lira to a fresh all-time low against dollar.
Erdogan made his comments after the U.S. announced on Aug. 1 sanctions on Turkey’s justice and interior ministers, prohibiting U.S. citizens from doing business with them. The move by the U.S. comes as Turkey refuses to free Andrew Brunson, an American evangelical pastor that was detained in 2016 on accusations of trying to overthrow the government after a failed coup earlier that year.
The U.S. remains embroiled in a trade dispute with China, meanwhile on Wednesday the States announced that it planned to inflict sanctions on Russia over its alleged chemical poisoning of an ex-spy in England earlier this year.
Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev warned the States on Friday that enacting these sanctions could be treated as a declaration of economic war, according to Reuters. Consequently, investors have been keeping a close eye on the Russian ruble.
Likewise, investors continue to monitor trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. This week both governments announced the possibility of imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on an additional $16 billion worth of goods.
Friday’s drop comes a day after the Nasdaq Composite scored its longest winning streak in close to a year, boosted by positive trade out of tech stocks including Amazon and Apple.
In economic data, consumer price index (CPI) figures are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the Monthly Treasury Statement at 2 p.m. ET.
