- US futures were set for a third straight day of losses on Wednesday.
- Coinbase shares fall after company reveals SEC plans to sue.
- Amazon expands grab and go; Apple sets September event.
- Bitcoin paused for breath after plunging 17% on Monday to a low of around $43,000 before recovering.
(Sept 8) World stocks receded from the previous session’s record highs, European stocks were headed for the biggest decline in almost three weeks and US futures were set for a third straight day of losses on Wednesday with the global growth outlook coming under increasing pressure while the dollar hit one-week highs and 10Y yields dipped as investors reduced exposure to riskier assets. S&P futures briefly fell 0.5%, tipping below 4,500 before, recovering losses after the S&P 500 fell 0.34% on Tuesday, while Dow futures were flat and Nasdaq emini futs were fractionally in the red as banks from Morgan Stanley to Citigroup turned cautious on US equities.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes closed lower on Tuesday, but the Nasdaq edged up to an all-time high after shares of Apple and Netflix hit record levels. US stocks have come under increasing pressure in recent days as investors have turned increasingly cautious following Friday’s weak August payrolls data and uncertainty over tapering.
At 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 8 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis fell 1.25 points, or 0.03% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis dipped 7.25 points, or 0.05%.
Shares of Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc and Google-owner Alphabet Inc fell between 0.1% and 0.3% in premarket trading.
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket:
- Kadmon surges 78% after Sanofi’s $1.9 billion cash acquisition of the U.S. biotech.
- Citrix Systems climbed 5.3% premarket. The Wall Street Journal reported that activist hedge fund Elliott Management has a more than $1 billion stake in the software company and wants it to take action to boost its lagging stock price, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Coty falls 6.8% after announcing the start to offer Class A stock by KKR Rainbow Aggregator LP.
- India Globalization Capital jumps 18% after the company says its cannabis-based drug for Alzheimer’s was safe and well tolerated in an early-stage clinical trial on 12 patients.
- U.S.-traded shares of Chinese electric-car maker NIO Inc. dropped 3% premarket. The company filed a prospectus with the SEC to sell up to $2 billion in American depository shares in an at-the-market offering, which seeks to price shares at the going market rate.
- Coupa Software Inc shares jumped 5.4% premarket after the company raised its financial targets for the year, topping analysts’ expectations.
- Bitcoin edged lower early Wednesday, offering little respite to holders of the volatile cryptocurrency after a flash crash a day earlier erased billions of dollars in its value. Coinbase Global, Inc. was sharing the pain, with its shares down 3.2% premarket.
- Earnings are due from executive recruiter Korn Ferry before the opening bell.
- PayPal nudged up 1% premarket. The payments processor agreed to buy Japanese “buy now, pay later” startup Paidy for about $2.7 billion, in a move that will boost its business in the world’s third-largest e-commerce market.
- Smartsheet dropped 3.8% premarket after the business software provider’s earnings report showed a net loss, though its revenue increased. Keybanc nudged its price target for the stock higher, to $94 a share. The stock closed Tuesday at $82.74.
- UiPath, which provides accounts payable, claims processing and other services on its platform, dropped more than 8.6%. And while it beat Wall Street targets, it still registered a per-share loss.
- Tesla Motors edged 1% higher after the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said the electric vehicle maker sold 44,264 China-made vehicles in August and reported a jump on local deliveries.
GameStop, Lululemon Athletica and Avid Bioservices are due to report results after the close.
In rates, 10Y Yields fell to 1.3512% compared to a U.S. close of 1.371% on Tuesday, retreating from this week’s eight-week highs in a quiet session. Germany’s 10-year Bund yield also hit eight-week highs before edging lower to -0.331%. Peripheral spreads widen a touch with the belly of the Italian curve widening ~1.5bps to Germany.
In FX, USD and haven currencies are modestly bid given the weakness in stocks. The dollar hit a one-week high against the single currency and was trading at $1.1819. It also reached a one-week peak against an index of currencies, recovering from recent five-week lows. It was trading at 92.67 on the index, up 0.15%. The Bloomberg dollar index trades near best levels for the week. CAD and SEK are the weakest in G-10. Turkish lira snaps through 8.40 to lag EMFX peers. The pound weakened for a third day,its longest losing streak in a month, ahead of a Parliament vote on a government tax package that seeks to trim a U.K. budget deficit swollen by pandemic spending;Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey’s comments will also be in focus as he faces the Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday. The Australian dollar was the worst G-10 performer while Australia’s bonds opened lower following Treasuries and held losses through the day; New Zealand peers also declined following a solid milk auction. The yen touched its weakest level in almost a month before rebounding as risk sentiment soured.
Bitcoin paused for breath after plunging 17% on Monday to a low of around $43,000 before recovering. It was last at $46,552, down 0.7%.
In commodities, crude futures pushed higher, returning toward Asia’s best levels. WTI jumped 1.38% to $69.30 a barrel and Brent crude rose 1.14% to $72.50 per barrel, with prices supported by a slow restart to production in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida hit the region. Base metals were mixed: LME copper underperforms, snapping through $9,300/MT to trade down as much as 1.5%. Gold gained 0.17% to $1796.90 per ounce in line with the risk-averse mood and just below the psychologically key $1,800 level which it fell through in the previous session.
Looking at the day ahead now, and data releases include US job openings and consumer credit for July, alongside Italian retail sales for July as well. From central banks, we’ll get the Bank of Canada’s latest rate decision, the Federal Reserve will be releasing their Beige Book, and speakers include the BoE’s Bailey, Broadbent, Ramsden and Tenreyro, and the Fed’s Williams and Kaplan.