Dow futures drop 208 points as sell-off continues for a second day

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A trader wearing a ‘Dow 26,000’ hat works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York.

U.S. stock index futures were trading sharply lower ahead of Tuesday’s open as investors braced for a second straight day of selling.

Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 208 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 12.5 points and 27.5 points, respectively.

Shares of UnitedHealth were the worst performers on the Dow before the bell, falling 5.8 percent. MetLife’s stock, meanwhile, was the biggest laggard in the S&P 500, dropping 7.7 percent.

Markets worldwide were also trading in the red on Tuesday. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index fell 0.5 percent, while the Japanese Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai composite pulled back 1.4 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 177 points on Monday, on the back of a rise in the 10-year treasury yield, raising concerns that higher interest rates could douse the bull market. On Tuesday, U.S. treasury yields were under slight pressure. The major indexes also posted their worst session of the year on Monday.

Elsewhere, U.S. companies that reported earnings Tuesday included Pfizer and Aetna. Both companies reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue.

In data news, the S&P/Case-Shiller house price index is slated to come out at 9 a.m. ET, followed by consumer confidence data and housing vacancies at 10 a.m. ET and the Dallas Fed’s Texas Service Sector Outlook survey at 10:30 a.m. ET.

President Donald Trump is expected to deliver his State of the Union address for 2018 to a joint session of Congress.