US Stock Index Futures Attempting to Rebound from Thursday’s Rout

The major U.S. stock index futures are putting in a mixed, two-sided performance in the overnight session, with buyers shrugging off earlier weakness but still trying to recover from yesterday’s steep sell-off. Capping gains and continuing to rattle investors is a surge in interest rates.

At 08:40 GMT, March E-mini S&P 500 Index futures are trading 3843.25, up 15.00 or +0.38%. March E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are at 31407, up 36 or +0.11% and March E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index futures are trading 12899, up 67.50 or +0.53%.

Earlier in the session Dow futures dropped 203 points, after trading in positive territory. S&P 500 futures and NASDAQ 100 futures both also traded in negative territory. Contracts tied to all three indexes appeared to rise and fall as the rate on the 10-year Treasury note fell and rose, respectively.

The early comeback on Friday follows Thursday’s negative regular trading session.

Thursday’s Recap

In the cash market on Thursday, the benchmark S&P 500 Index lost 2.5% to clinch its worst day since January 27 while the tech-weighted NASDAQ Composite shed 3.5% and suffered its biggest one-day sell-off since October 28. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 559 points, or 1.8%, slipping from a record high.

Wall Street’s main indexes were driven lower as surging U.S. Treasury yields took the shine off stocks now that a strong economic recovery looked more certain and investors clung to concerns that inflation would rise.

The S&P 500 was down more than 2% at one point, and retreating technology stocks dragged the NASDAQ down more than 3% as the benchmark 10-year note yield surged more than 20 basis points to a one-year high above 1.6%.

Sectors and Stocks

The S&P 500 Technology sector fell 3.5%, as did communication services, which slid 2.6%, among the sectors that powered the market’s rally in 2020.

The S&P 500 Growth Index is nearly unchanged in February, sharply underperforming the value index, which has gained more than 7% on optimism related to a post-pandemic reopening of the economy.

Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Netflix Inc dropped 1.2% to 3.6%.

Tesla Inc fell 8.1% after a media report that the electric-car maker told workers it would temporarily halt some production at its California assembly plant.

Moderna Inc jumped 2.5% after the drugmaker said it was expecting $18.4 billion in sales from its COVID-19 vaccine this year.

Stock Market Internals

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 6.71-to-1 ratio; on NASDAQ, a 7.36-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 71 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the NASDAQ Composite recorded 202 new highs and 39 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 15.84 billion shares, compared with the 15.61 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

Economic News

Data showed fewer Americans filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week as COVID-19 infections fell, but the near-term outlook remained unclear after winter storms wreaked havoc in the South this month.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.