(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday, kicking off another week on softer footing, as investors worried that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive push to curb inflation may tip the American economy into recession.
At 6:21 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 225 points, or 0.76%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 27.75 points, or 0.75%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 54 points, or 0.47%.
The Fed’s latest signal that high interest rates could last through 2023, sent the three major U.S. stock indexes tumbling between 4% and 5% last week, with the Dow Jones Index coming within spitting distance of a bear market on Friday.
In premarket trading on Monday, cyclical stocks traded sharply lower on worries that such sharp rate hikes could rattle the economy.
Boeing Co, Chevron Corp, Caterpillar Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co fell more than 1% each, while growth stocks including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Tesla Inc shed between 0.4% and 0.5%.
The benchmark S&P 500 index on Friday briefly dipped below its mid-June closing low of 3,666, erasing a sharp summer rebound in U.S. stocks before paring losses and closing above that level.
“As the SPX tests its June lows, the question becomes is that alone good enough reason to buy?” said Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG.
“Given the acceleration higher in the dollar, global yields, and the breakdowns across global FX, it’s hard to not have concerns about longer-term implications.”
Sentiment across global markets was bleak after the sterling briefly touched all-time lows earlier in the session on worries that the new British government’s fiscal plan threatened to stretch the country’s finances to their limits. [MKTS/GLOB]
In a bright spot, shares of casino operators Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands Corp and Melco Resorts & Entertainment jumped between 5.5% and 9.6% after Macau planned to open to mainland Chinese tour groups in November for the first time in almost three years.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
