09:18 AM EDT, 08/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were flat ahead of Tuesday's opening bell after President Donald Trump said he was removing Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.1%, S&P 500 futures were 0.1% lower, and Nasdaq futures were down 0.2%.

Trump said late Monday he was dismissing Cook from the central bank's seven-member board amid allegations of mortgage fraud.

Oil prices were lower, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude down 1.6% at $67.15 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude 1.7% lower at $63.69 per barrel.

The July durable goods orders report, released at 8:30 am ET, showed a 2.8% decrease in new orders to add to prior month's 9.4% drop, compared with estimates compiled by Bloomberg for a 3.8% fall.

The Case-Shiller National Home Price index gained 0.1% in June before seasonal adjustment following a 0.5% increase in May.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, slated for release at 10 am ET, is seen coming in at 96.4 for August versus July's 97.2.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed down nearly 1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.2% lower, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.4% lower. Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 was down 0.4%, and Germany's DAX index was 0.3% lower in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, EchoStar ( SATS ) shares were 83% higher after AT&T ( T ) agreed to buy certain wireless spectrum licenses from the company for about $22 billion. Serina Therapeutics ( SER ) stock was up 21%, a day after the company said it received written feedback from the US Food and Drug Administration supporting its registrational trial program for Parkinson's disease.

On the losing side, Graphjet Technology ( GTI ) shares were 20% lower after the company said late Monday it received a non-compliance notice from Nasdaq for failing to timely file its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30.