US stock futures turned lower on Tuesday after China retaliated to US shipping curbs, reviving trade-war fears for investors waiting for Wall Street's biggest banks to kick off earnings season.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) slid 0.4%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) dropped 0.7%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) sank 0.9% to lead the retreat.

Stocks are reversing from Monday's strong rebound amid a fresh round of retaliation from Beijing to President Trump's tariff threats, which has soured market hopes of avoiding a US-China tit-for-tat trade war.

China said it has placed sanctions on five US-linked subsidiaries of South Korean shipbuilding firm Hanwha Ocean as a countermeasure to US barriers on its shipping. Separately, it has launched an investigation into how a US probe affects its domestic shipping industry.

Meanwhile, earnings season kicks off Tuesday morning with JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Wells Fargo (WFC) reporting results. The stocks of Wall Street's banks have rallied for most of the year, and analysts expect to see rising profits from the group.

With key economic reports stalled by the government shutdown, investors and the Federal Reserve lack a clear view of the economy's direction. The publication of the consumer inflation report, originally expected Wednesday, has been delayed to Oct. 24. Data on retail sales and producer prices are also expected to be pushed back.

The blackout of economic reports puts added weight on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming speech on Tuesday, where he is set to talk at the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) annual meeting.

Bloomberg reports:

Silver (SI=F) prices touched an all-time high above $52.50 an ounce, as a historic short squeeze in London added momentum to a rally that’s been fueled by surging demand for safe-haven assets.

Spot prices rose as much as 0.4% to $52.5868 an ounce in London, surpassing a peak set in January 1980 on a now-defunct contract overseen by the Chicago Board of Trade — when the billionaire Hunt brothers attempted to corner the market. Gold also climbed to another record high, building on eight straight weeks of gains.

Concerns about a lack of liquidity in London have sparked a worldwide hunt for silver, with benchmark prices soaring to near-unprecedented levels over New York. That’s prompting some traders to book cargo slots on transatlantic flights for silver bars — an expensive mode of transport typically reserved for gold — to profit off higher prices in London. The premium was at about $1.55 an ounce in early trading on Tuesday — down from a spread of $3 last week.

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