US equity futures were falling ahead of Thursday's opening bell as traders monitored the evolving trade policies out of the White House.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.9%, S&P 500 futures dropped 1.1%, and Nasdaq futures were down 1.5%.

President Donald Trump's new tariffs on the country's top three trading partners took effect this week. The White House announced Wednesday a one-month pause on North American tariffs for automakers and is also reportedly exploring carve-outs for the agriculture sector.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 0.3% at $69.51 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 0.4% higher at $66.57 per barrel.

US trade deficit, released at 8:30 am ET, widened to $131.38 billion in January from $98.06 billion in December, compared with estimates compiled by Bloomberg for a $128.8 billion gap. New unemployment claims fell to 221,000 in the week ended March 1 from 242,000 in the preceding week, compared with estimates for a smaller drop to 233,000. Q4 nonfarm productivity was upwardly revised to a 1.5% annual growth from 1.2% in the preliminary reading.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.8% higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 3.3% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 1.2% higher. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 1.1%, and Germany's DAX index was 0.2% higher in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, Visionary Holdings (GV) shares were up 77% pre-bell, extending Wednesday's rally after the company said it secured a financing consent letter worth $1 billion with the Alfardan Group of Qatar.

On the losing side, MongoDB (MDB) stock was 19% lower after the company issued fiscal 2026 guidance that trailed analysts' projections.