U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slide at the post-Thanksgiving Wall Street open and oil hit two-month lows as fears of a possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant sent investors scurrying to safe-haven assets.
At 8:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 776 points, or 2.17%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 73.25 points, or 1.56% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 147 points, or 0.9%.
"This could be the moment that people look back on as derailing the economic recovery and rate rises but what we have is a big insertion of uncertainty rather than something material," said Peter Rutter, head of equities at Royal London Asset Management.
"The very fact we don't know is what's concerning the market."
The WHO is convening an experts' meeting on Friday to evaluate whether the new variant is a "variant of concern".
It will take a few weeks to understand the impact of the variant, a spokesperson said.
"We need to see how transmissible this variant is, is it able to evade the vaccines - this is crucial," Coghlan said.
Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket:
Travel and leisure stocks – Airline stocks are getting hit hard in the premarket by news of the new Covid-19 variant, includingAmerican (AAL),United (UAL),Southwest (LUV),Delta (DAL)andJetBlue (JBLU). Cruise stocks were also getting rocked:Royal Caribbean (RCL)slid 10.6%,Carnival (CCL)took a 10.5% hit, andNorwegian (NCLH)fell 10%.
Stay-at-home stocks – Stocks that benefited from Covid-19 closures rebounded, withZoom Video (ZM)gaining 7.8% in premarket trading,DocuSign (DOCU)up 3%,Netflix (NFLX)higher by 2.2% andPeloton (PTON)jumping 6.2%.
Vaccine stocks – These are rising following the Covid variant news, withModerna (MRNA)surging 8.6% in the premarket,Pfizer (PFE)jumping 5.6%,BioNTech (BNTX)surging 7.3% andNovavax (NVAX)rallying 5.3%.
Merck (MRK)– The drug maker and its partner, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, said their experimental Covid pill cut the risk of death and hospitalization in at-risk patients by 30%. However, that was a lower efficacy rate than was seen in an earlier study, and Merck fell 3% in premarket trading.
Tesla Motors (TSLA)– Tesla will invest $188 million to expand production capacity at its Shanghai factory, according to the state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper. Tesla fell 2.3% in the premarket.
Micron Technology (MU)– Micron and Taiwan-based chip makerUnited Microelectronics (UMC)have withdrawn intellectual property complaints against each other. The two companies did not give a reason for ending those cases. Micron fell 1.6% in the premarket, while United Micro slid 2.3%.
Boeing (BA)– Boeing was told that its bid to sell fighter jets to Canada did not meet the government’s requirements, according to a report in the Canadian Press. The report said two other competitors,Lockheed Martin (LMT)and Sweden’s Saab, did meet those requirements and remain in the competition. Boeing lost 6.3% in premarket action.
Microsoft (MSFT)– Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella disclosed the sale of 839,000 shares in an SEC filing, leaving him with ownership of 831,000 shares following that transaction. Microsoft fell 1% in the premarket.
Pinduoduo Inc. (PDD)– The China-based e-commerce platform operator saw its shares plummet 17.7% in the premarket, after it reported quarterly revenue that was well below analyst estimates amid increasing competition from companies like Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD).
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