Wall Street set for lower open on nagging growth fears

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

REUTERS - Wall Street looked set to open lower on Wednesday as Brexit-related fears seeped back into the markets amid signs of a global economic slowdown.

As wary investors looked for shelter, gold rallied to a two-year high. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield touched a fresh record low.

Major Asian and European indexes were trading lower. The British pound was at a 31-year low, while China allowed the value of the yuan to touch a 5-1/2 year low.

"Today's decline is not a surprise as investors have had a chance to take a step back and look at things and go, 'Well maybe it's not all that good'," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management.

Global markets recovered some losses stemming from the Brexit vote last week, but weak economic data and worries over the fallout of the decision curtailed the rally.

"We are not yet calling for a recession, but I think the risks of a recession are starting to rise." Nolte said.

Foreign exchange volatility and economic uncertainty after the Brexit vote have also imperiled a projected profit rebound in quarterly results in the United States. Second-quarter earnings are forecast to decline 3.9 percent from a year ago.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its June meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT). Traders will peruse the comments for clues on what the Fed thought the impact of Brexit would be.

Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday, due to a stronger dollar and increasing concerns about weak demand.

Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday as disappointing factory data and weak oil prices sent shivers through the markets.

Dow e-minis were down 110 points, or 0.62 percent at 8:32 a.m. ET, with 40,710 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were down 13.5 points, or 0.65 percent, with 328,406 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 31.5 points, or 0.72 percent, on volume of 38,533 contracts.

Data showed U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected to $41.1 billion in May as rising oil prices helped push up the import bill and exports remained constrained by a strong dollar. Economists had expected the trade gap to be about $40 billion.

A report at 10:00 a.m. ET is expected to show the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index rose to 53.3 in June from 52.9 in May.

Stocks of banks were down in premarket trading. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan were all down more than 1 percent while Wells Fargo was off 0.8 percent.

Tesla's shares were down 1.9 percent at $210 amid continuing concerns about the electric car maker's self-driving technology after a fatality on May 7.

Netflix fell 2.8 percent to $95.20 after Jefferies initiated coverage with an "underperform" rating and an $80 price target.

American Airlines fell 3.4 percent to $27.95 after Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse cut price targets.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)