This post was originally published on this site
U.S. stock futures on Thursday edged lower after three days of gains, as attention moves to upcoming inflation data as worries over China were rekindled by a credit downgrade.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
-0.27%
fell 63 points, or 0.2%, to 35682 -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
-0.29%
declined 9 points, or 0.2%, to 4690 -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
-0.38%
fell 0.2%, or 33 points, to 16360
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 35 points, or 0.1%, to 35755, the S&P 500
SPX,
added 0.3%, or 14 points, to 4701, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
gained 100 points, or 0.6%, to 15787. The preliminary data from Pfizer
PFE,
and BioNTech
BNTX,
showing their vaccine at three doses was effective against the omicron variant of coronavirus has further calmed market fears.
What’s driving markets
Traders are starting to look ahead to Friday’s inflation data, which are expected to confirm the pressures that will lead the Federal Reserve to decide to ramp up the bond taper process.
“Most indices are now stabilizing, solidifying the recent gains registered after investors started to play down worries over the omicron variant. The trading environment is however likely to stay significantly volatile as uncertainty remains regarding monetary policies in the U.S., especially after last week’s poor job report and high inflation numbers,” said Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades.
The Fitch Ratings decision to lower the credit rating of homebuilder China Evergrande
3333,
to restricted default reignited worries around the Chinese property sector. Fitch cited Evergrande’s nonpayment of coupons on two dollar-denominated bonds.
Brazilian digital bank Nu Holdings priced its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange at $9 per share, valuing the Warren Buffett-backed lender at more than $41 billion. “This will mark one of the biggest publicly listed fintech companies in the world and provide a glimpse into the feasibility of running a large digital only bank,” said analysts at Saxo Bank.
Another high-profile new listing, HashiCorp, priced its IPO at $80, valuing the cloud-based software provider at $14 billion.
