MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Set Up For Another Day Of Losses As North Korean Tensions Simmer

Macy's, Kohl's will report ahead of the open

U.S. stock futures pointed to more losses for Wall Street on Thursday as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea showed no signs of easing.

On the corporate side, investors will get earnings from Macy's Inc. and Kohl's, along with an update on producer prices.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 54 points, or 0.3%, to 21,964, while S&P 500 futures dropped 10 points, or 0.4%, to 2,463. Tech stocks were indicating bigger losses, as Nasdaq-100 futures slid 34.50 points, or 0.6%, to 5,888.50.

"Traders would require nerves of steel to starting buying into the stock market now, given standoff between the U.S. and North Korea," David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets U.K., said in a note to clients.

Stocks finished off their lows, but still stayed negative Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-pull-back-as-north-korea-threatens-guam-2017-08-09), as investors assessed the U.S.-North Korea war of words and a clutch of disappointing earnings reports. In the session before that, the geopolitical tension saw the Dow industrials snap a nine-session run of record closes.

Opinion:Time is running out to avoid war with North Korea (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/time-is-running-out-to-avoid-war-with-north-korea-2017-08-09)

On Wednesday, the Dow closed down 0.2% at 22,048.70, the S&P 500 closed less than 0.1% lower at 2,474.02, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.3% to 6,352.33.

"Over the last few days we've been wondering what it would take to knock the S&P 500 out of its 90-year record low trading range of no moves of bigger than 0.3% in either direction," said Deutsche Bank analysts in a note to clients.

But after yesterday's action on the index, "we can possibly rule out the threat of nuclear war as a catalyst," said Jim Reid, strategist, and Jeff Cai, research analyst. They noted the S&P 500 managed to close only 0.04% lower, extending that run of tight moves to 15 days.

The geopolitical tension continued Thursday, after a North Korean army commander said, "Sound dialogue is not possible" with Trump and "only absolute force can work on him," according to state media. North Korea also laid out detailed plans of how it would launch a missile strike on U.S. military bases in Guam (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/north-korea-details-plan-to-fire-missiles-toward-guam-says-only-absolute-force-will-work-with-trump-2017-08-09).

Economic docket: Data on tap includes weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, with producer prices for July coming at the same time. The federal budget for July is scheduled for release at 2 p.m. Eastern.

New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley will speak on wage inequality in the New York region at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Stocks to watch: Blue Apron , Kohl's(KSS) and Macy's(M) will report ahead of the market's open. Read a preview of Macy's earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/macys-earnings-cosmetics-promotions-could-hurt-margins-2017-08-07).

Opinion: Here's one retailer Amazon won't kill (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-one-retailer-amazon-wont-kill-2017-08-09)

Snapchat parent Snap Inc.(SNAP) , Nordstrom Inc.(JWN) , News Corp.(NWS.AU) and Nvidia Corp.(NVDA) will report after the close.

Check out earnings previews for Snap (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/snap-earnings-as-facebook-and-google-challenge-turf-new-approach-rolls-out-2017-08-09) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/snap-earnings-as-facebook-and-google-challenge-turf-new-approach-rolls-out-2017-08-09)and Nvidia (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nvidia-earnings-cryptocurrency-boom-could-lead-to-new-products-2017-08-08)

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nvidia-earnings-cryptocurrency-boom-could-lead-to-new-products-2017-08-08)Other markets: Investors' appetite for assets perceived as haven in times of geopolitical trouble ebbed slightly. The Swiss franc gave up some gains (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/swiss-franc-gives-up-some-gains-as-investors-monitor-us-north-korea-standoff-2017-08-10), as the U.S. dollar regained some strength across the board, but gold gained $4.80, or 0.4%, to $1,284.

Oil prices posted modest gains ahead of OPEC's monthly update.

Asian markets continued to fall on Thursday, with losses of over 1% for the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index . Selling also renewed for European stocks .

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 10, 2017 06:39 ET (10:39 GMT)