As sports fans around the globe get excited about the World Cup, US stock futures point lower, but Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGLE) shares are down 0.42% in pre-market deals to stand at US$1,154.38.
Google, whose parent is Alphabet, has invested US$550mln (£415mln) in its Chinese Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) rival JD.com Inc (NASDAQ:JD) as the US search giant attempts to extend its presence in Asian markets.
The search engine giant has been blocked in China since 2010 due to its refusal to censor search results to comply with local laws.
In other pre-market news, electric car giant Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) saw shares lose 0.6% before the bell to stand at US$355.99. It comes after a report yesterday that a Tesla car driven by British TV director Michael Morris burst into flames in LA, his US-actress wife has said. No one was injured and Tesla said it was investigating.
In addition, Musk has taken to Twitter again to show off the group's newest production line as the company pushes toward its goal of making 5,000 Model 3 cars a week by the end of June.
Elsewhere, pulling in headlines was German car giant Audi AG (ETR:NSU), whose shares are down 1.2% after the chief executive of Volkswagen's Audi division, Rupert Stadler, was detained as part of an investigation into the manipulation of emissions controls.