(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were lower on the first trading day of the second half of this year, as worries of a trade war between the United States and other major economies did not let up.
Shanghai's blue chip index .CSI300 fell 2.9 percent, days before the U.S. tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods comes into effect, posing threats of a similar response from Beijing.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese technology companies were in the red. Alibaba (BABA.N) was down 1.7 percent , while JD.com (JD.O) fell 2.2 percent.
Chipmakers, which depend on China for a large portion of their revenue, also slipped with Intel (INTC.O) down 0.2 percent and shares of both Qualcomm (QCOM.O) and AMD (AMD.O) falling about 1 percent.
Trade war worries were also being compounded by a threat from the European Union to hit the United States with almost $300 billion in retaliatory tariffs.
On Friday, Canada struck back at the Trump administration over U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, vowing to impose punitive measures on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) worth of American goods.
It was the first day of the new month, quarter and half-year but there was no respite for bruised investors after the worst start to a year for world shares since 2010.
“The trading in the new quarter is getting off to an ugly start as hostile trade talks and retaliation by trading partners weigh on the markets. These effects are sending shock waves across the global markets,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York,
