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Asia-Pacific markets are set for a lower open, tracking Wall Street losses as uncertainty around the U.S. economy continued to weigh on equities.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 traded flat at the open.
Japan's Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a lower open for the market after returning from a holiday. The futures contract in Chicago is currently at 37,490 and its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 37,450 compared to the index's previous close of 37,751.88.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures were at 24,065 also weaker than the HSI's last close of 24,219.95.
Japan's headline inflation rose 3.7% year on year in February, easing from a two-year high of 4% seen in January.
U.S. stock futures traded around the flatline after an attempt at extending Wednesday's Federal Reserve-fueled rally sputtered.
Overnight in the U.S., the S&P 500 slipped 0.22%, thwarting the market's attempts at recovery from a monthlong rout to close at 5,662.89. The Nasdaq Composite slid 0.33% to end the day at 17,691.63, weighed down by losses in Apple and Alphabet. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 11.31 points, or 0.03%, and closed at 41,953.32.
—CNBC's Sean Conlon and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
Individual investors unusually bearish for 10th time in 12 weeks
Optimism about the outlook for stocks over the next six months rose a touch among individual investors surveyed this week by the American Association of Individual Investors, but remained below the historic average for the 10th week in 12.
Bullish views rose to 21.6% of the total from 19.1% last week, but was far below the historic average of 37.5%. Bearish views toward the market dipped to 58.1% from 59.2%, above its historic average of 31.0% for the 16th week in 18. The balance of respondents were neutral on the stock outlook.
The latest AAII survey marked the first time in its history, which goes back to the late 1980s, that the percentage of bearish Main Street investors stayed above 57% for a fourth consecutive week.
In response to a special question, nearly three quarters of those polled said a recession this year was either highly likely or more likely to occur than not, with 50.4% saying odds of an economic contraction were "higher-than-typical" and another 21.7% saying a recession was "highly likely." Fewer than one in five, or 18%, said the odds of a recession were no more or less than they expect, while just 9.7% said a recession was unlikely.
— Scott Schnipper
U.S. home sales rose more than expected in February
Homebuyers are starting to reenter the market as more housing becomes available to buy, leading to a better-than-expected increase in February.
According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes rose 4.2% in February from January, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.26 million units. However, sales were down 1.2% from the same period a year ago. But that was still better than what economists were anticipating.
— Christina Cheddar Berk
English (US)