AET - Trump threatens more tariffs stocks to take fall

U.S. stock index futures fell sharply on Thursday as trade worries intensified once again.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials 159 points, or 0.6%, to 25,130

S&P 500 futures dropped 15 points, or 0.5%, to 2,795.75, while futures for the NASDAQ composite collapsed 54.5 points, or 0.8%, to 7,222.50.

Earnings season continues to keep investors busy on Thursday, with a whole slew of companies due to report. DowDuPont and Aetna are among the companies that posted quarterly earnings. Both of their results topped analyst expectations.

Tesla shares surged more than 8% in the pre-market after CEO Elon Musk said the company would be profitable in the second half. However, Tesla posted a wider-than-expected loss for the previous quarter.

On Wednesday, the U.S. administration announced that President Donald Trump had spoken with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and asked him to consider increasing the proposed levies on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods up to 25%, from 10%.

Shares of big exporters Caterpillar and Boeing both fell more than 1% in the pre-market.

Jobless claims are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by factory orders at 10 a.m. ET.

Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index skidded 2.2%.

Oil prices weakened 52 cents to $67.14 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices fell $4.30 to $1,223.30 U.S. an ounce.