US stock futures fell early in the day of trading after the Dow’s worst day since February, when investors again dumped tech stocks.
Dow futures fell more than 111 points while S&P 500 futures traded 0.4% lower and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.6%.
Tech stocks that have been under pressure this week and month fell back to the fore market on Wednesday. Alphabet, Microsoft, Netflix, Facebook, and Apple stocks were all lower in early trading. The shares of chip manufacturers Nvidia and AMD were also lower in the pre-market.
Stocks linked to the reopening also fell in the fore market. Carnival Corp, Boeing and United Airlines were lower in premarket trading.
On Tuesday, tech stocks were hit hard at the start of the session but eventually bounced back. However, the broader market remained in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 473 points, or 1.4%, which was hurt by losses at Home Depot, Chevron and Goldman Sachs. The Dow had its worst day since February. The S&P 500 was down 0.9% but avoided its second consecutive 1% loss.
The Nasdaq Composite ended the wild day as a relative outperformer, closing just 0.1% after falling more than 2% from its session lows.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR is down more than 1% this week and 3% this month as investors re-evaluate the group’s high valuations amid rising inflation.
The main inflation data will be released on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.CET. The consumer price index for April is expected to grow 0.2% from the previous month, which is an increase of 3.6% from the previous year according to estimates by Dow Jones. This jump in the headline consumer price index would be the biggest since September 2011.
The consumer price index excluding food and energy is projected to increase 0.3% in April and 2.3% over the past 12 months. The consumer price index rose 0.6% month-on-month in March and 2.6% year-on-year, according to the Labor Ministry.
During Tuesday’s session, the CBOE Volatility Index, a measure of market fear derived from option prices on the S&P 500, rose to 23.73, a level not seen in two months. The VIX was higher early in the trading day.
“Monday’s risk-taking sell-off continued until this morning as we see red across the board,” said Brian Price, director of investment management at Commonwealth Financial Network. “Inflation seems modest lately and this has been cited as the main catalyst for the recent weakness in global equities.”
Investors are increasingly concerned about the threat of inflation. However, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said any spike in inflation should be temporary.
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