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U.S. stock-index futures traded lower Thursday in seesaw price action after the European Central Bank in a late-night move rolled out an expanded asset-purchase program and the Federal Reserve announced a facility to backstop money-market mutual funds.
What are major indexes doing?
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -2.50% were 288 points lower, down 1.4%, at 19,565, while S&P 500 futures ES00, -2.36% fell 1.4% to 2,367.75. Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, -1.38% were off 0.4% at 7,187.50.
On Wednesday, the Dow DJIA, -6.30% fell 1,338.46 points, or 6.3%, to end at 19,898.92, for its lowest close since Feb. 2, 2017. The S&P 500 SPX, -5.18% dropped 131.09 points, or 5.2%, to end at 2,398.10, while the Nasdaq Comoosite COMP, -4.70% lost 344.94 points to end at 6,989.84, down 4.7%.
What’s driving the market?
U.S. stock futures were lifted late Wednesday after the European Central Bank, in an emergency meeting, said it was launching a new program that would allow it to buy 750 billion euros ($820 billion) in government and private sector bonds as well as commercial paper.
Also making late-night moves, the Fed announced a new Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, or MMLF, to assist money-market funds in meeting demands for redemptions by households and other investors.
“The market reaction to the extra stimulus efforts enhances our longstanding view that the worst is not behind us yet,” said Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group, in a note. “We repeat that with monetary and fiscal easing, consumers have to get out of their homes and start spending for the engines of the global economy to restart. With the daily infected cases and deaths hitting new records day by day, we see that as a very hard task.”
Also late Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed a coronavirus bill approved by the House and Senate that targets paid leave and testing, as lawmakers and the Trump administration already are looking ahead to huge stimulus measures and other programs aimed at cushioning the economy from the blow created by the pandemic.
Financial markets remain volatile as investors factor in global economic shocks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Investors on Wednesday continued to liquidate stocks as well as other assets, including gold and government bonds, while pushing up the dollar in a dash for cash.
Read: How a ‘disorderly’ U.S. dollar is amplifying the stock-market rout and adding to volatility
The U.S. economic calendar features data on weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, which are expected to soar in coming weeks in response to the effects of the pandemic.
The Philadelphia Fed’s regional manufacturing index for March is also due at 8:30 a.m., while leading economic indicators are due at 10 a.m.
