The S&P and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are poised for a fourth consecutive day of declines.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked 0.2% lower, indicating that both indexes willextend lossesafter sliding for three consecutive trading days. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 edged down 0.2%, suggesting that large technology stocks may also decline at the opening bell.
Investors’ optimism has waned this week following a jobs report that showed asharp slowdown in the pace of hiringin the U.S., and signs that thepace of economic recovery weakenedover the summer due to the Delta variant of Covid-19. Questions around when the Federal Reserve and the ECB willbegin to pare back their stimulus programsis also weighing on sentiment, money managers say.
“We’re slightly more cautious,” said Charles Hepworth, an investment director at GAM Investments. “It does feel that people are getting a bit freaked out by valuations. The Delta variant transmission is a threat for global growth. If you get tapering too soon, that risks derailing the recovery.”
The Cboe Volatility Index—Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, also known as the VIX—ticked up to 19.
The ECB will issue its latest policy statement at 7:45 a.m. ET, with policy makers offering their assessment of the economy and inflation. Some investors are betting that the central bank will disclose plans to startparing back its purchase of government bondsthrough an emergency program that was meant to bolster credit markets and growth during the pandemic.
“The real unknown is if the ECB will revise its inflation and growth forecast,” said Agnès Belaisch, chief European strategist at the Barings Investment Institute. “If it raises its inflation forecast closer to 2%, that will make markets wonder if it could overshoot and if the ECB could have to raise interest rates.”
Investors will get fresh figures at 8:30 a.m. ET on the number of Americans who applied for first-time unemployment benefits, a metric that is seen as a proxy for layoffs, in the week ended Sept. 4. The Fed has said that inflation and the labor market are two key factors it is monitoring to determine changes to monetary policy.
In bond markets, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked down to 1.322% from 1.333% Wednesday. Yields fall when prices rise.
Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.4%, led by losses in travel and leisure companies.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 2.3% by the end of the day. Shares of Chinese videogame giants Tencent Holdings and NetEase tumbled Thursday after authorities summoned the companies and ordered them to follow new rules for the online-gaming industry. Tencent shed 8.5% in Hong Kong trading, while NetEase tumbled 11%.
Other major indexes in Asia broadly closed lower. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.5%, Australia’s S&P /ASX200 contracted 1.9% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.6%. China’s Shanghai Composite Index bucked the trend, gaining 0.5%.
