Stocks are gearing to trade lower as China’s economic growth slowed in July with retail sales increasing by 8.5% year-over-year, below the forecasted 11.5% growth. Industrial production growth also came in below estimates. The trend is only likely to worsen given the recent tightening in coronavirus restrictions in China.

The U.S. has begun moving Americans out of Afghanistan from the airport in Kabul. Ahead of the departure, the State Department instructed staff to destroy military equipment and hard drives containing classified information. While many are weighing in over whether America's longest war was worth it, as well as the pace of the withdrawal or potential future threats, that debate will continue and will be one for historians to discuss in the future.

Consumers reported a loss of confidence in the first half of August, as the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index fell by 13.5% from the prior month - the lowest level since 2011, according to the August University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. However, consumer expectations for year-ahead earnings, as well as prospects for finding a job, increased sharply in July, according to the New York Fed July Survey of Consumer Expectations. If the Covid-19 delta variant continues to spread like it has been, supply chains are once again at risk to being disrupted - a means for the Federal Reserve to delay "tapering" asset purchases.