US Stock Futures Slide as Investors Fear Continued Slump
New York (Aug 21) Stock futures fell on Friday as investors feared equities would continue their recent slump. S&P500 futures were down 0.42%, Nasdaq futures slid 0.65%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 0.61%.
Stocks posted their biggest drop of 2015 on Thursday as high-momentum consumer and tech stocks such as Apple (AAPL) tumbled on fears the Federal Reserve would hike rates in September despite signs of slowing global growth.
The S&P 500 turned negative for the year on Thursday after falling nearly 5% from its record close set in May. More than half of the S&P 500 stocks have now entered correction territory, having fallen more than 10% from their 52-week highs, according to Forbes calculations.
Netflix (NFLX - Get Report) entered correction territory on Thursday after falling 11% since its Aug. 6 record close of $126.45 a share. The stock tumbled nearly 8% over the session, caught up in a broad selloff in the tech sector.
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Likewise, Apple suffered a massive decline, falling 2.1% to close at its lowest point since Jan. 27. Shares are now down 15% from their Feb. 23 record close.
Twitter closed at its $26 initial public offering price on Thursday. The social network was caught up in the tech selloff which worsened recent declines for the stock following a disappointing second quarter. Shares fell 5.8% to $26.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ - Get Report) fell more than 1% in premarket trading after reporting its 15th straight quarter of declining sales. Net income of 88 cents a share beat estimates by 3 cents, though revenue of $25.35 billion stumbled 8% and missed expectations. The company is set to split into two companies on Nov. 1, with one company focused on PCs and printers and the other on enterprise servers and software.
Global woes continued after China's manufacturing activity fell to a six-and-a-half-year low. The flash manufacturing PMI fell to 47.1 in August from 47.8 in July. Worries over slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy has triggered selloffs in global markets. China's Shanghai Composite fell 4.3% on Friday and 11% for the week.
Greece added to uncertainty after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras submitted his resignation after losing parliamentary majority. Tsipras had squared off with members of his Syriza party who objected to the bailout agreement with eurozone creditors. Early elections will take place on September 20.
The European Central Bank confirmed it had received a 3.2 billion euro repayment from Greece on Thursday afternoon. The repayment is the last for the next 11 months. Greece recently secured a fresh 86 billion euros ($96 billion) in bailout funds.
Source: TheStreet
