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U.S. stock futures paused Tuesday after a three-day losing streak, helped by a report the European Union is planning its second region-wide spending spree to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.26%
fell 8 points, or 0.1%, 32774 -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
+0.39%
gained 0.1%, or 6 points, to 4204 -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
+0.20%
were basically unchanged at 13324
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
fell 797 points, or 2.37%, to 32817, the S&P 500
SPX,
declined 128 points, or 2.95%, to 4201, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
dropped 482 points, or 3.62%, to 12831.
The Dow’s decline marked the entering into correction, as the benchmark was 11% lower than its Jan. 4 record high, and the Nasdaq entered a bear market, as the tech-heavy index fell 20% from its record peak in November.
What’s driving markets
A report by Bloomberg News that the European Union was looking to jointly finance energy and defense spending briefly brought some cheer to beleaguered markets.
European leaders are meeting in Versailles this week to announce plans to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, though the Bloomberg report said the joint spending plan would come after this meeting.
“Hopes that European countries will be given financial breathing space through a huge joint bond issue helped bring a sense of calm to equity markets in early trading in Europe,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The gyrations in commodities markets continued, this time in nickel, where on the London Metals Exchange, prices jumped past $100,000 per ton before a trading halt.
Russia’s deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak, said the country could cut vital gas supplies to Europe, and said oil prices could jump to $300 per barrel if the West imposed a ban on Russian oil. Oil futures
CL.1,
were trading around $122 per barrel in early action.
