NEW YORK, April 5 — Wall Street’s main indexes were set to open lower today as the prospect of fresh sanctions on Russia kept investors on edge, while megacap growth stocks retreated after strong gains a day earlier.

The European Commission is to propose to EU nations sweeping new sanctions, including a ban on imports of coal, rubber, chemicals and other products from Russia worth up to €9 billion (RM41.3 billion) a year, an EU source told Reuters.

The West prepared new sanctions on Moscow after dead civilians were found lining the streets of a Ukrainian town seized from Russian invaders.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp rose about 0.2 per cent each in premarket trading after crude prices extended their rally on fears of tighter global supply.

Megacap tech and growth stocks edged lower after helping the Nasdaq .IXIC jump 1.9 per cent in the previous session.

"We had a really strong rally, especially in the technology sector, but it wasn’t really backed up by very broad market participation,” said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management in Chicago.

"Interest rates continue to rise and that is slowly providing a headwind for stocks ... it wouldn’t surprise me to see them (tech stocks) a little bit weaker over the next few trading days.”

Micro-blogging site Twitter Inc gained 6.3 per cent, set to add to a 27 per cent surge in the previous session, after saying it would name top shareholder and Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk to its board.

Overall, stocks have rebounded in recent weeks after a rocky start to the year amid concerns about the ongoing war in Ukraine and the US Federal Reserve’s tightening monetary policy to fight decades-high inflation.

Minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting will be released on Wednesday, with investors looking for hints on how much the US central bank will raise interest rates next month.

The benchmark S&P 500 is down 3.9 per cent so far in 2022 after falling as much as 12.5 per cent.

At 08.22am ET, Dow e-minis were down 70 points, or 0.2 per cent, S&P 500 e-minis were down 9 points, or 0.2 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 38.5 points, or 0.25 per cent.

Meanwhile, data from the Institute for Supply Management at 10.00am ET is expected to show its non-manufacturing activity index rose to 58.4 in March, after a reading of 56.5 in the previous month.

Carnival Corp rose 5.1 per cent after the cruise operator reported its highest booking week in its history, boosting peers Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd 3.4 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. — Reuters