U.S. stock futures fell Thursday, the first day of September, as traders continued to fret over the potential for higher Federal Reserve rates.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials dumped 168 points, or 0.6%, early Thursday to 31,364.
Futures for the S&P 500 slid 24.75 points, or 0.6%, to 3,931.75
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite lost 106.5 points, or 0.9%, to 12,178.75.
Nvidia shares contributed to the losses, falling more than 5% after the chipmaker said the U.S. government is restricting some sales in China.
Those moves follow four straight days of losses in the major averages. On Wednesday, the final day of August, the Dow slid nearly 0.9%. The S&P 500 lost about 0.8%, and the NASDAQ Composite fell roughly 0.6%.
The Dow closed the month down about 4.1%, while the S&P dropped 4.2% and the NASDAQ recorded a loss of 4.6%.
Investors are debating whether stocks will again challenge the June lows in September, a historically poor month for markets, after weighing recent hawkish comments from Fed officials who show no signs of easing up on interest rate hikes.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.5% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gave up 1.8%.
Oil prices let go of $2.12 to $87.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gave up $13.50 to $1,712.70 U.S. an ounce.