The volatility in oil prices has dominated market sentiment recently.
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In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday.
Crude prices near 2003 lows have hammered the earnings of US energy companies, exacerbated fears of a slowing global economy and created turbulence on Wall Street that has left the S&P 500 nearly 6 percent weaker since the start of the year.
Meanwhile, investors are keeping a close eye on the fresh readings of the housing market and consumer confidence, which are scheduled for release later in the morning.
S&P 500 e-minis were down 16.5 points, or 0.86 percent, with 336,118 contracts traded.
It’s not uncommon to see stocks give up some of their gains after a strong multi-day rally like the one that happened last week, but traders say the mood in the market is still cautious.
US stocks rose Wednesday, recovering from earlier losses as oil prices turned higher.
The decrease by the price of crude oil has contributed to considerable weakness among energy stocks, which helped lead the markets higher on Monday.
JP Morgan JPM.N was down 2.3 percent at $54.81 after the bank forecast double-digit declines in investment banking revenue and raised its provisions for energy loan losses. Gold prices rose almost 2 percent to $1,242 an ounce.
Mixed data on Tuesday offered little cheer, with consumer confidence falling to its lowest since July but USA home resales unexpectedly rising in January.
Spending on oil exploration and equipment is projected to drop by 17 per cent this year after a 24-per cent cut in 2015 “which would be the first time since 1986 that upstream investment has fallen for two consecutive years”, the IEA noted. On the Nasdaq, 1,618 issues fell and 1,059 rose. Financial stocks, the worst performing group this year, fell another 1.8% on Tuesday.
In other energy prices, heating oil fell 3.3 cents to $1.022 a gallon, wholesale gasoline fell 3.4 cents to 96.6 cents and natural gas fell 3.9 cents to $1.782 per thousand cubic feet.
Lowe’s was down 3.7 percent at $66.15 despite the home improvement chain’s better-than-expected results. On the Nasdaq, 1,864 issues fell and 703 advanced.
About 7.1 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges, below the 9 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
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Dow Jones futures are down a further 115 points at 16,281, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures also point lower. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange dropped 1.64 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index decreased 1.25 percent.
