Stock futures trade cautiously higher after volatile Monday session

US equity futures are cautiously higher ahead of Tuesday’s trading session.

US stocks pulled back from their recent highs on Monday, the first trading day of the new year, as big swings return to Wall Street at the start of a year where the prevailing expectation is that a strong economic rebound is sweeping away. the world.

“With the seven-day average of new cases still hanging in the 600K zone globally, few expect the market to be spared from the resurgence of COVID-19 fears,” said Jingyi Pan, senior strategist market at IG in Singapore.

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE REVERSE COURSE, WILL NOT LIST CHINESE TELECOMS: WSJ

“Certainly with the merging of factors ranging from the UK’s third nationwide lockdown announcement, US hospitalizations hitting a record high and Tokyo considering a state of emergency, all of this had been proof that the pandemic was still raging inducing a mood of risk to trigger the crisis. year for the US indices, ”said Pan.

The S&P 500, which ended 2020 at a record low, slipped 1.5% after falling 2.5% earlier. This is the largest drop in the benchmark since the end of October. Technology companies accounted for a significant portion of the sales, as well as industrials, communications services, healthcare and others. Only the energy sector of the S&P 500 managed to post a gain.

US equity futures are cautiously higher ahead of Tuesday’s trading session. (Nicole Pereira / New York Stock Exchange via AP)

The sale comes as coronavirus cases continue to rise at frightening rates around the world, threatening to bring more foreclosure orders that would punish the economy. The worsening numbers also raise the possibility that Wall Street has been overly optimistic about the big economic recovery it is forecasting from COVID-19 vaccines. Tuesday’s upcoming election to determine which party controls the Senate could also contribute to the volatility.

“We have a shaky start to the year here,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “Investors are looking for a reason to lock in profits. The sale is probably a bit over the top. “

SOLARWINDS SHAREHOLDER FILES CLASS ACTION ALLEGING LEADERSHIP “ MISREPRESENTED AND FAILED TO DISCLOSE ” INFORMATION ABOUT HACK

The S&P 500 fell 55.42 points to 3,700.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell from its high set last week, losing 1.3%, to 30,223.89. At one point, he was down 724 points. The highly technical Nasdaq composite lost 1.5% to 12,698.45.

Small business shares, which have posted strong gains in recent weeks, also fell. The Russell 2000 Small Business Index fell 1.5% to 1,945.91.

Investors were hopeful that the vaccines will allow daily life around the world to slowly return to normal. This has helped trigger a recent rally in inventories of travel-related businesses, small businesses and other industries left behind during much of the pandemic.

In the United States, regulators have already approved two other vaccines. China last week gave the green light for its first nationally developed vaccine. Others are also tested.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS

Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday, as Japanese stocks echoed pullbacks on Wall Street, while other regional indexes recovered from earlier losses amid lingering concerns about the surge in coronavirus cases.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.4% to 27,159.27 as the government prepared to declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and several surrounding areas.

The Australian S & P / ASX 200 fell less than 0.1% to 6,681.90. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.0% to 2,975.05, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.4% to 27,577.74. The Shanghai Composite climbed 0.5% to 3,521.75.

The Japanese prime minister said the government is considering declaring a state of emergency to help curb the spread of infections. The move is expected this week. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and the Governors of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa urged the national government over the weekend to declare the emergency after the capital recorded a daily record of 1,337 cases on New Year’s Eve.

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE ROAD BY CLICKING HERE

In energy trading, benchmark US crude fell 20 cents to $ 47.42 per barrel in e-commerce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. He lost 92 cents to $ 47.62 on Monday.

Brent, the international standard, fell 26 cents to $ 50.83 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar slipped to 102.95 Japanese yen from 103.13 yen on Monday night. The euro cost $ 1.2269, compared to $ 1.2249.

___

AP Business editors Stan Choe and Alex Veiga contributed.