Wall Street futures pointed moderately lower pre-bell Tuesday as traders weighed rising crude prices, Persian Gulf turmoil, and a still-closed Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for oil tankers.
In the futures, the S&P 500 fell 0.4%, the Nasdaq declined 0.8% and the Dow Jones was off 0.1%.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil traded up 3.7% to $101.69 a barrel, in morning action.
Investors also await the April consumer price index (CPI) bulletin from Washington, at 8:30 am ET. The consensus is for the headline CPI to gain 3.7% on year, but for the CPI-core, that strips out certain food and energy bills, to rise by a more-modest 2.7% in the 12-month period to April.
Asian exchanges traded mixed on the downside overnight, while European bourses tracked moderately lower midday on the continent.
Zebra Technologies (ZBRA) rose 16.6% pre-bell after the workflow and data capture enterprise reported strong fiscal Q1 results and boosted guidance, in morning hours.
Federal Reserve New York President John Williams and Chicago President Austan Goolsbee are slated to speak on Tuesday.
In premarket action, Bitcoin traded at $80,690, and 10-year US Treasuries offered 4.43%. Spot gold commanded $4,693 an ounce.