Contracts on the S&P 500 expiring in September slid 2.6 percent to 1,918.5 at 8:55 a.m. in New York. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 422 points, or 2.6 percent, to 16,086 and those on the Nasdaq 100 Index lost 2.8 percent. Equities dropped in Asia, with the Shanghai Composite Index slumping as much as 4.8 percent, after manufacturing reports pointed to a deepening Chinese economic slowdown.

A handful of stocks that had driven much of the S&P 500's 2015 gains before the August selloff were under pressure Tuesday. Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Netflix Inc. and Google Inc. -- which had come to be known as the Fab Five -- were all down at least 2.6 percent. Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp. lost more than 4 percent as crude slipped after its strongest three-day rally since 1990.

"Markets may have overemphasized China's impact, but markets are also in relatively bad shape and we're getting more negative technical signals," said Otto Waser, chief investment officer at R&A Research & Asset Management AG in Zurich. "It's a close call for the Fed and as long as markets are in turbulence, I don't think it will raise rates. If the markets remain too turbulent, they will postpone to October."

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Tuesday the global expansion outlook is worse than the lender anticipated less than two months ago. "This reflects two forces: a weaker than expected recovery in advanced economies, and a further slowdown in emerging economies, especially in Latin America," Lagarde said in a speech in Jakarta.