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U.S. stock futures are trading lower hours ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street as higher inflation worries, lower unemployment rates and higher gas prices cause markets to fall.
| Ticker | Safety | Last | Alter | Alter% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ek: DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGE | 31496.3 | +572.16 | + 1.85% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3841,94 | +73.47 | + 1.95% |
| I: COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITION INDEX | 12920.147675 | +196.68 | + 1.55% |
The U.S. economic aid package, narrowly passed by the Senate on Saturday, offers direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans and extends emergency benefits to unemployment. This is a victory for President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies, as final congressional approval is expected this week.
Wall Street clinched a volatile day of trading to end last week with a broad rally dropping the three-day market loss. The S&P 500 rose 2% to 3,841.94. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.9% to 31,496.30. The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.6% to 12,920.15.
CHINA FEB EXPORT POST RECORD STEAM OF COVID-19 DEPRESSION 2020 LEVELS
Smaller company shares outperformed the broader market, as they did throughout the year. The Russell 2000 Index rose 2.1% to 2,192.21.
A report by the US government on Friday showed that employers added hundreds of thousands more jobs last month than economists expected, and that was an encouraging sign for the economy. But it also helped increase Treasury yields, and contributed to concerns that rising inflation could end a period of ultra-low interest rates.
US stock futures are trading hours ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street as higher inflation worries, lower unemployment rates and higher gas prices cause markets to fall. (Nicole Pereira / New York Stock Exchange via AP)
Rising oil prices are part of the picture. After the pandemic subsided with the onset of the pandemic, prices have recovered over the past few months.
The devastating winter freeze that hit Texas and other parts of the southern United States last month wiped out production of about 4 million barrels of U.S. oil and prices rose above $ 60 a barrel.
Last week, with the rise in oil prices, some observers expected the OPEC cartel and its allies to lift more restrictions and allow oil to flow more freely. But OPEC has agreed to put most restrictions in place, despite growing demand.
The U.S. crude oil benchmark rose $ 1.27 to $ 67.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday. It jumped $ 2.26 to $ 66.09 a barrel on Friday.
Brent crude, the international standard, reached $ 1.36 to $ 70.72 a barrel.
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Meanwhile, Asian equities were mostly lower, despite hopes of a gradual global recovery after the US stimulus package overtook the Senate over the weekend.
The heavy selling of shares in technology companies has helped lower standards in Japan and South Korea to early gains. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.3% after China’s foreign minister made ominous comments about the self-governing island of Taiwan.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 28,743.25. Australia’s S & P / ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 6,739.60, while Kospi sank 1.0% to 2,995.90 in South Korea. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.5% to 28,661.49, while the Shanghai Composite fell to 3,423.02.
The Chinese computer chip maker SMIC fell 5.2%; mobile phone maker Xiaomi lost 7.8%; The Japanese technology and energy giant SoftBank lost 2.4% and the manufacturer of printers and copiers Ricoh lost 6.3%.
Oil prices have fallen higher, with Brent crude surpassing $ 70 a barrel after OPEC chose not to lift production cuts. Oil prices rose late last week after Yemeni rebels claimed to have attacked a Saudi oil plant.
At an annual news conference alongside the largely ceremonial annual session of the Chinese People’s Congress, Foreign Minister Wang Yi demanded that the Biden government endanger former President Donald Trump’s “dangerous practice” of supporting Taiwan , reverse.
China’s claim to Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949 but was claimed by Beijing as territory, is an ‘insurmountable red line’, he said. Separately, Wu Qian, a Defense Ministry spokesman and a delegate to Congress, said China would not “deny the use of force and retain the right to take the necessary measures.”
Taiwan’s share standard fell 0.2%.
According to Beijing data released on Saturday, China’s exports rose 60.6% in the first two months of 2021 more than a year earlier, when factories reopened and global demand gradually recovered. The large increase reflects the decline in manufacturing and exports in early 2020 at the height of China’s coronavirus outbreaks.
The gradual explosion of vaccines in most parts of the world is also boosting optimism, although it has barely begun in some Asian countries, including Japan.
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Japan has extended a state of emergency for the Tokyo area by another two weeks until March 21, demanding that restaurants and other businesses close at 8 p.m., as the government tries to grow the economy while spreading COVID-19 infections are limited.
The U.S. economic aid package, narrowly passed by the Senate on Saturday, offers direct payments of up to $ 1,400 to most Americans and extends emergency benefits to unemployment. This is a victory for President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies, as final congressional approval is expected this week.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 108.42 Japanese yen from 108.34 yen. The euro cost $ 1.1904, compared to $ 1.1919.
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AP business writer Cathy Bussewitz contributed.