Stock futures fall on virus fears ahead of jobless claims

New York (June 25)  U.S. stock futures fell further on Thursday following Wall Street’s worst day in two weeks, as risk appetite took a hit from an alarming rise in new coronavirus cases and on expectations of elevated weekly jobless claims.

Data due at 8:30 a.m. ET is expected to show about 1.3 million Americans signed up for unemployment benefits in the latest week. Although that figure is down from 1.5 million in the prior week, the pace of declines has slowed as weak demand forces U.S. employers to lay off workers.

Walt Disney Co slipped 1.4% in premarket trading after it delayed the reopening of theme parks due to the health crisis.

The resurgence in virus cases across the United States has revived fears of another lockdown to contain the pandemic and threatened to halt a Wall Street rally that was powered by a raft global stimulus since late March.

After coming within 5% of its record high in early June, the benchmark S&P 500 has lost nearly 6% in the past two weeks and analysts cautioned further declines amid worsening economic forecasts.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday warned of a nearly 5% plunge in the global economic output in 2020.

At 6:21 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 116 points, or 0.46%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 11 points, or 0.36% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 10.5 points, or 0.1%.

Boeing Co fell 2.7% as Berenberg reduced its rating to “sell”, noting the planemaker’s near-term risks are elevated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pace of recovery in air travel and uncertainty related to production rates.

Reuters