Stock futures in New York were lower once again on Thursday as investors awaited weekly jobs data.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faltered 117 points, or 0.3%, to 33,714.
Futures for the S&P 500 lost eight points, or 0.2%, to 4,103.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index fell 4.25 points to 13,229.25.
Shares of Cisco led technology shares lower, dropping 5% in premarket trading after the data centre networking hardware maker issued weaker-than-expected earnings guidance for the current quarter.
Kohl’s and Petco’s earnings are set to be released before the bell on Thursday.
Investors are awaiting the latest number of U.S. weekly jobless claims to gauge the pace of labour-market recovery. New claims for unemployment benefits are expected to total 452,000 for the week ended May 15, slightly lower than 473,000 in the week prior, according to economists polled by Dow Jones.
The move in futures followed a roller-coaster session on Wall Street triggered by a sudden drop in bitcoin, which led to a sharp sell-off in many speculative areas of the market. Cryptocurrency-linked shares, including Tesla, Coinbase and MicroStrategy led the market decline as bitcoin tanked as much as 30% at one point Wednesday.
On Wednesday, investors also digested the Federal Reserve’s minutes from April that hinted at considering tapering its asset purchase programs in upcoming meetings.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 regained 0.2%, while in Hong Kong, markets resumed trading with a loss of 0.5%.
Oil prices slid 67 cents to $62.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices moved lower $8.80 to $1,872.70 U.S.
Dow Set to Fall for 4th Straight Day