- The morning sell-off in stock futures is accelerating.
- Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, Tesla Motor, XPeng Inc. made the biggest moves in premarket trading.
- Oil extended losses, with WTI crude futures tumbling 3.8% to below $70/barrel after yesterday's OPEC+ deal which many saw as bullish but not CTAs which this morning are engaged in wholesale liquidation.
(July 19) U.S. stock futures, oil prices and government bond yields slid, amid anxiety that the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant would hold back the global economy.
At 8:09 a.m. ET,Futures for the S&P 500 fell 1.11%, signaling opening losses for the broad stock-market gauge after itsnapped a three-week winning streak Friday. Contracts for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.35%. Futures on the technology-focused Nasdaq-100 fell 0.89%.
Surging cases of the coronavirusin many parts of the world, including highly-vaccinated countries such as the U.K., have prompted investors to dial down their expectations of economic growth in the coming months. Some also are concerned that a steep rise in prices will pinch consumption and prompt central banks to withdraw stimulus, creating an environment of lower growth and higher inflation in which stocks tend to struggle.
“What you’re seeing is a sense that the consumer is starting to be affected quite significantly” by the jump in prices, said Sebastien Galy, senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management.
Business reopenings, rising vaccination rates and government pandemic aid have helped propel rapid gains in consumer spending—the economy’s main driver. But surveys show that inflation, which accelerated to a 13-year high in the U.S. in June, is starting toknock consumers’ confidencein their ability to keep spending, Mr. Galy said.
Airlines and oil-and-gas companies were among the worst performers ahead of the bell in New York.Occidental Petroleumlost 4.1%, ConocoPhillips 3.6%,American Airlines Group2.3% and $Delta Air Lines(DAL)$ 2.2%.
One bright spot wasFive9,which jumped 8.3% on news thatZoom Video Communicationsplans to buy the provider of cloud-based customer-service software in a deal valuing the firm at $14.7 billion. Zoom shares slipped 2% in premarket trading.
Worries about the economic effects of the virus were evident in a broad retreat in global markets. The regional Stoxx Europe 600 slid 1.9%, led lower by shares of economically sensitive travel, leisure and commodities companies.
Potential beneficiaries of a prolonged pandemic including food-delivery companiesHelloFresh,Deliverooand Just Eat Takeaway.com ticked higher.
Among other stocks, Paris-listedVivendifell 1.2%. Pershing Square Tontine, a blank-check company led by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, said it had dropped plans topurchase a 10% stakein Universal Music Group. Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square said it would take a large stake in Universal, which is majority owned by Vivendi, instead.
Italian luxury fashion house Ermenegildo Zegna will go public on the New York Stock Exchange later this year as part of a tie-up agreement with special-purpose acquisition corporation Investindustrial Acquisition. Shares of the SPAC, whose chairman is former UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti, edged down before the bell in New York.
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket:
Pershing Square Tontine Holdings: Billionaire investor William Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings has dropped a deal to buy 10% of Vivendi’s Universal Music Group (UMG), the label that is home to musicians such as Taylor Swift.
Tesla Motors : On Saturday, Elon Musk's Tesla Inc launched its Full Self-Driving (FSD) subscription for its driver-assistance software package for $199 per month, Reuters reports. Tesla offered the Full Self-Driving package for a one-time payment of $10,000. The FSD feature would cost $99 a month for those who previously bought the Enhanced Autopilot package. According to Tesla, vehicle owners can cancel their monthly FSD subscription at any time. Tesla fell 2.28% in the premarket trading.
XPeng Inc.: Xpeng Undercuts Tesla With P5 Sedan Priced Starting $24.7K, EV Maker Reports High Demand As It Begins Taking Pre-Order.Xpeng fell 2.13% in the premarket trading.
Johnson & Johnson: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) is exploring a plan to offload liabilities from widespread Baby Powder litigation into a newly created business that would then seek bankruptcy protection, according to seven people familiar with the matter.J&J faces legal actions from tens of thousands of plaintiffs alleging its Baby Powder and other talc products contained asbestos and caused cancer. The plaintiffs include women suffering from ovarian cancer and others battling mesothelioma.
In Asia, technology giants Alibaba and Tencent weighed on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which had lost 1.8% by the close of trading. The losses came after the Biden administration on Friday warned American companies about the increasingrisks of operating in the financial hub.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.3%. More athletes and staff members attending theTokyo Olympics have tested positive, while cases are surging in Indonesia. Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, is under lockdown because of a delta outbreak.
David Chao, a market strategist at Invesco, said the spread of the delta variant across Asia, coupled with low vaccination rates and expectations of additional social-distancing measures, has “taken wind out of the sail for many investors expecting an economic rebound” in the region.
Mr. Chao said he expected investors to continue to pull funds out of Asian stocks and shift them to shares in developed markets with high inoculation rates, such as the U.S. and U.K.
In FX, the pound slumped to a three-month low and the FTSE 100 tumbled 1.9% after the U.K. lifted remaining virus curbs in England even as virus cases increased the most in the world, signaling the challenge nations face to fully reopen their economies. Australia’s dollar dropped to a seven-month low after state governments tightened and extended lockdown measures to contain the latest outbreak. The yen strengthened versus all of its Group-of-10 peers. Investors are seeking protection in currency options; data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation show that volumes are running 10% higher than recent averages overall, with demand for Aussie and yuan exposure running at almost double the averages while the pound is almost at triple.
Oil extended losses, with WTI crude futures tumbling 3.8% to below $70/barrel after yesterday's OPEC+ deal which many saw as bullish but not CTAs which this morning are engaged in wholesale liquidation.
Gold, a perceived safe haven asset, was also down sliding to just above $1,800. On Sunday OPEC and its allies struck a deal that allows for monthly supply hikes of 400k b/d, putting the group back in control of the crude market. Oil refiners in Asia stayed on the sidelines awaiting price cuts after the OPEC+ deal.