Stock futures edged lower Tuesday morning, pointing to a third straight day of losses, as the bond market inched closer to flashing its biggest recession signal yet.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dropped 57 points, or 0.2%, to 25,810
Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 6.25 points, or 0.2%, at 2,874
NASDAQ futures fell 22.25 points, or 0.3%, to 7,544.50
In corporate news, JD.com, Advance Auto Parts, and Elanco Animal Health are among some of the companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly results before the opening bell.
CDK Global, Adaptive Biotech, and Change Healthcare are among some of the companies set to report earnings after market close.
The increasingly voilent protests in Hong Kong and a crash in the Argentine peso also drove investors to perceived "safe-haven" assets such as U.S. bonds, gold, and the Japanese yen.
Market sentiment was already fragile due to increasing signs that the world's two largest economies — the U.S. and China — are unlikely to quickly resolve their protracted trade war. The two countries will resume trade negotiations in Washington in early September.
China once again fixed its yuan midpoint at 7.0326 per U.S. dollar on Tuesday, the fourth consecutive session where the People's Bank of China set the figure at a level weaker than the psychologically seven-yuan-per-dollar level.
The U.S. Labor Department's inflation report, the key consumer price reading for July, is set to come out Tuesday morning, which could determine the direction of the yield curve and the financial markets for the day.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 came back from a long weekend to lose 1.1%, while in the Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was pasted 2.1%
Oil prices slid 53 cents to $54.40 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved $20.40 to $1,537.60 U.S. an ounce.