Dow futures rebound into the green on Bank of England’s bond-buying plan
U.S. stock markets index futures rebounded into positive territory Wednesday following the Bank of England’s bond-buying plan to stabilize the falling British pound. Dow futures gained 93 points, or about 0.32%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.17%, and Nasdaq 100 futures was up 0.09%. Shares of Apple were down nearly 4% in premarket trading after a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the tech company is ditching plans to increase new iPhone production after demand fell short of expectations. Stock futures pared earlier losses after the Bank of England said it would temporarily purchase long-dated UK government bonds in an effort to stabilize the plunging British pound. Sterling briefly popped on the news before trading 0.6% lower against the dollar at $1.0667. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield gave back its initial gains after the announcement, last trading at about 3.93%. Earlier in the trading session, the benchmark rate broke above 4% for the first time since 2008. Wall Street is coming off a mixed session in which the S&P 500 reached a new bear market low of 3,623.29 and posted its sixth straight day of losses, while the Nasdaq Composite eked out a gain. Several technical metrics show that the stock market may be oversold, but some on Wall Street are worried that investors have not priced in an earnings slowdown and the impact of the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes. The S&P 500 breaking below its previous low is a key indicator for some that stocks still have further to fall. “I think we’re certainly not at the end of the road in terms of pricing in the full recessionary outcome. … We really need to get to dirt cheap valuations on equities, and we’re not quite there yet,” Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, said on Tuesday’s “Closing Bell.” Hong Kong stocks led sharp losses in Asia-Pacific markets after the S&P 500 set a new 2022 low overnight on Wall Street. The offshore and onshore Chinese yuan reached weakest levels since 2008 and the Indian rupee also marked a record low. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 3.45% in the final hour of trade, with the Hang Seng Tech index down 3.88%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was 1.58% lower at 3,045.07, and the Shenzhen Component fell 2.465% to 10,899.70. The Kospi in South Korea shed 2.45% to 2,169.29. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell more than 2% at session lows but closed 1.5% lower at 26,173.98, while the Topix index slipped 0.95% to 1,855.15. Oil prices were broadly stable on Wednesday as pressure from a strengthening dollar and crude storage builds was offset by U.S. production cuts caused by Hurricane Ian. Brent crude futures were up 0.3% at $86.56 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures added 0.4% to trade at $78.85 per barrel. Both contracts erased earlier falls after rising over 2% in the previous session. Gold prices dropped to their lowest level since April 2020 on Wednesday, as a rally in the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields on prospects of more aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve diminished its appeal. Spot gold fell 0.6% to $1,619.79 per ounce. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.5% to $1,627.60.