06:59 AM EST, 03/06/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity markets were tracking in the red before Thursday's opening bell as traders assess President Donald Trump's evolving international trade and tariff policies.

Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1% and the Nasdaq was off 1.3% in premarket activity. The majority of Asian exchanges were pointing higher while most European bourses were trending downwards midday on the continent.

The Trump administration on Wednesday reportedly granted a one-month exemption to automakers from tariffs on Mexico and Canada. US-listed shares of Ford Motor ( F ) , General Motors ( GM ) and Stellantis ( STLA ) increased as of the close of Wednesday's trading session, but were down early Thursday.

Alibaba's ( BABA ) New York stock exchange-listed shares gained 2.9% pre-bell as the Chinese e-commerce giant said on the X platform that it launched an artificial intelligence reasoning model. Marvell Technology ( MRVL ) and MongoDB ( MDB ) dropped 16% and 18%, respectively, as the companies reported their latest quarterly results.

JD.com's ( JD ) US-listed shares advanced nearly 6% as the company's fourth-quarter results topped market estimates. Kroger ( KR ) , Burlington Stores ( BURL ) , BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ), Toro (TTC), Macy's (M) and GMS (GMS) also post earnings early Thursday, among others.

Broadcom ( AVGO ) , Costco Wholesale ( COST ) , Hewlett Packard Enterprise ( HPE ) , Guidewire Software ( GWRE ) and Gap (GAP) are set to release their financial statements after the markets close.

On the economic calendar, the Challenger Job Cut report for February is out at 7:30 am ET, followed by the weekly jobless claims bulletin, the international trade in goods and services report for January and the revised productivity and costs report for the fourth quarter of 2024 at 8:30 am.

The preliminary wholesale inventories report for January is due at 10 am, followed by the weekly EIA natural gas supplies report at 10:30 am.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker is slated to speak at 8:45 am, while Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller speaks at 3:30 pm. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks at 7 pm.

Before the opening bell, bitcoin inclined 1.3% to $91,390, West Texas Intermediate crude oil edged 0.1% higher to $66.34 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries climbed 3.1 basis points to nearly 4.3% and gold decreased 0.5% to $2,910 an ounce.