FYI: U.S. stock futures drifted in and out of positive territory Wednesday, as Wall Street readied to reopen after a shortened pre-Christmas trading session that turned out to be the worst in the history of the stock market.
The rest of the week will see normal trading days after Monday’s early close for Christmas Day and Tuesday’s full closure.
How are benchmarks performing?
March contracts on the S&P 500 Index advanced 0.4 percent as of 9:48 a.m. in London, after swinging between a 1.1 percent decrease and a 0.5 percent rise. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were also higher after fluctuating. The benchmark S&P gauge for American equities is only about 7 points from trading down 20 percent versus its Sept. 20 closing high. Major European equities markets were closed.
In a shortened Christmas Eve session Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.91% slid 653.17 points, or 2.9%, to 21,0792.20, marking its lowest close since Sept. 7, 2017, while the S&P 500 index SPX, -2.71% fell 2.7% to 2,351.10, its lowest since April 21, 2017. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -2.21% COMP, -2.21% tumbled 2.2% to 6,192.92, its lowest close since July 10, 2017.
Another negative session Wednesday would mark five straight losing sessions, and last week marked the worst week of trading since the 2008 financial crisis. The Nasdaq officially entered bear-market territory on Friday, and is now off 23.6% from its record close set Aug. 29. The S&P is down 19.8% from its Sept. 20 record close, and the Dow has slid 18.8% from its Oct. 3 record close.
Regards,
Ted
WSJ:
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-25/u-s-stock-index-futures-drop-as-global-carnage-shows-no-let-up?srnd=premiumMarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-lower-as-market-readies-to-reopen-after-christmas-eve-meltdown-2018-12-26/printIBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-dow-jones-mcdonalds-microsoft-verizon-intel-stock-bear-market/Reuters:
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/26/us-futures-following-christmas-eve-plunge.htmlEurope:
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-stocks-slip-on-us-shutdown-worries-trump-fresh-criticism-of-fed-2018-12-26/printBonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/24/bonds-treasury-yields-lower-amid-stock-market-volatility.htmlCurrencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/26/forex-markets-dollar-us-politics-the-fed-in-focus.htmlOil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/26/oil-markets-global-economy-in-focus.htmlGold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/26/gold-markets-dollar-us-politics-global-economy-in-focus.htmlCurrent Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx
