US futures point to a mixed open as concerns over tech and trade weigh

U.S. stock index futures posted minor gains ahead of Tuesday's open, as investors continue to fret over fears of a trade war and tech regulation.

At around 5:40 a.m. ET, Dow futures rose 45 points, but indicated a drop of 22.19 points at the open. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 futures meantime indicated a slightly positive open for their respective markets.

The moves in pre-market trade come after Wall Street tumbled on the first trading day of April. On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 450 points, with the 30-stock index hitting a new low for the year.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq entered correction territory during the session. Reasons why markets were under severe pressure Monday revolved around the possibility of a trade war, and fears surrounding the tech industry.

Over the weekend President Donald Trump tweeted that e-commerce giant Amazon was scamming the U.S. Postal Service, and that the service was losing "billions of dollars" because it delivered packages for the group.

On Monday, shares of Amazon sank more than 5 percent, while other technology stocks such as Facebook, Alphabet and Netflix, also posted sharp declines. In March, shares of Facebook came under severe pressure following concerns on how the social media giant handles the data of people who use the platform.

Meantime, concerns surrounding global trade continue to rumble on. China recently announced that it would be implementing new tariffs on 128 U.S. products, including fruit and meat, in response to the U.S.' own set of levies on steel and aluminum.

Consequently, markets in Asia and Europe came under pressure Tuesday.

Looking at Tuesday's session, Cloudera and Dave & Buster's are both scheduled to release their latest earnings reports after the bell.

On the central banking front, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is expected to deliver remarks at the Regional Economic Indicators Forum (REIF) in Duluth, Minnesota. Meantime, Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will be in New York, where she's due to speak at a NYU Stern School of Business lecture.

No major data are scheduled to be released Tuesday.