Sharp declines in U.S. stock index futures triggered trading curbs meant to slow panicked markets as the price of oil fell by more than 30 percent and bond yields crashed amid heightened worries over the coronavirus.
E-mini futures on the S&P 500 dropped by 5 percent in overnight trading Sunday, triggering automatic trading curbs that kick-in when the price falls below 5 percent of the closing price of the referenced index Friday. As a result, the futures contract cannot trade at a lower price until the cash market opens at 9:30 a.m., although trades may still be made at higher prices.
The last time futures trading hit the overnight limit was election night of 2016, when markets initially sold off following the news that Donald Trump had won the election. That selling pressure quickly subsided and the major indexes closed up by around 1 percent or so the following day.
The E-mini is an electronically traded futures contract based on the underlying S&P 500 index. The contracts are around one-fifth the size of the standard S&P futures contracts, earning them the monicker “mini.” They are considered highly liquid and are widely traded but they have, in a few past episodes, been prone to so-called “flash crashes.”
Planned Parenthood Lost More Money Than It Made as Taxpayer Funding, Abortions Increased
Wes Moore preemptively unloads on Baltimore Sun ahead of expose, as spox beefs with ‘right wing’ ownership
On Nato, It’s Time to Take the Maverick from ‘Top Gun’ Approach: ‘Don’t Think, Just Do’
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Antifa-tied group’s plan for chaos, school probe over transgender policy
Fox News True Crime Newsletter: Bahamas missing woman mystery, Athena Strand bodycam, Gilgo Beach guilty plea
Trump unveils new renderings for arch with ‘one nation under God’ inscription
Kamala Harris ‘might’ run for president in 2028, but black voters are skeptical of the idea
Kamala Harris Gives the Surest Sign Yet She’s Running in 2028 with Al Sharpton Event Speech
Teens suspected of murdering congressional intern linked by DNA on shell casings, prosecutors say
LATE BREAKING: Trump Issues Shockingly Graphic Post Targeting Haitian Illegal Accused of Murdering Mother of 2
Bessent, Powell summon Wall Street CEOs for emergency meeting over Anthropic AI risks amid Pentagon dispute
Trump’s Labor Department takes another hit as inspector general accused of abusing role
FLASHBACK: Dems want to boot Trump with 25th amendment, but refused to do so under Biden
WATCH: America250 backdrop topples near Shapiro, Revolutionary War reenactors
Navy scraps Biden-era submarine contract as overhaul costs surge toward $3B
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite remain above the level that would trigger curbs in those contracts.
The chaotic market action was not confined to equities futures on Sunday. Investors bid up Treasuries, pushing yields down to new record lows, and oil prices tanked.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank 37 basis points to touch 0.448 percent in overnight trading Sunday. The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell below 1 percent.
Planned Parenthood Lost More Money Than It Made as Taxpayer Funding, Abortions Increased
Wes Moore preemptively unloads on Baltimore Sun ahead of expose, as spox beefs with ‘right wing’ ownership
On Nato, It’s Time to Take the Maverick from ‘Top Gun’ Approach: ‘Don’t Think, Just Do’
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Antifa-tied group’s plan for chaos, school probe over transgender policy
Fox News True Crime Newsletter: Bahamas missing woman mystery, Athena Strand bodycam, Gilgo Beach guilty plea
Trump unveils new renderings for arch with ‘one nation under God’ inscription
Kamala Harris ‘might’ run for president in 2028, but black voters are skeptical of the idea
Kamala Harris Gives the Surest Sign Yet She’s Running in 2028 with Al Sharpton Event Speech
Teens suspected of murdering congressional intern linked by DNA on shell casings, prosecutors say
LATE BREAKING: Trump Issues Shockingly Graphic Post Targeting Haitian Illegal Accused of Murdering Mother of 2
Bessent, Powell summon Wall Street CEOs for emergency meeting over Anthropic AI risks amid Pentagon dispute
Trump’s Labor Department takes another hit as inspector general accused of abusing role
FLASHBACK: Dems want to boot Trump with 25th amendment, but refused to do so under Biden
WATCH: America250 backdrop topples near Shapiro, Revolutionary War reenactors
Navy scraps Biden-era submarine contract as overhaul costs surge toward $3B
Oil prices crashed more than 30 percent Sunday night after Saudia Arabia on Saturday slashed official crude prices for April following the collapse of talks between OPEC+, which includes the traditional OPEC nations plus Russia. Oil had fallen sharply on Friday following the news that talks had fallen apart but took an even deeper tumble, falling an additional 20 percent or so, when it became apparent that the once allied oil producers were now engaged in a price war to take market share from each other.
Low oil prices were an unambiguous boon to the U.S. economy, boosting consumer buying power and keeping a lid on inflation. But now that the U.S. is once again a major world oil producer, low oil prices can weigh on employment, manufacturing, and the financial stability of heavily-leveraged U.S. drillers. That could even shake some regional banks with large exposures to the drillers.
Story cited here.
