Stock futures ticked lower Wednesday as investors looked ahead to a key inflation report due later this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials retreated 116 points, or 0.3%, to 38,900.
Futures for the S&P 500 parted with 18 points, or 0.4%, at 5,072.
Futures for the NASDAQ dropped 87 points, or 0.5%, to 17,934.
Online marketplace eBay rose nearly 5% after announcing that it was raising its quarterly dividend and would spend an additional $2 billion on buybacks. Urban Outfitters lost more than 9% after reporting weaker-than-expected results for the fourth quarter.
Wall Street is coming off a mixed session. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite rose slightly, while the Dow declined.
The S&P 500 and the Dow are off the highs they just notched late last week, but investors may want to think twice before they aggressively ramp up on equities.
In Japan, the Nikkei slid 0.1% while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dumped 1.5%.
Oil prices faded 0.16 cents to $78.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices skidded $1.80 to $2,042.30 U.S. an ounce.