U.S. stock index futures fell Friday after three gains in four days for the S&P 500, with investors still focused on the fragile banking sector.
What’s happening
-
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-1.09%
fell 233 points, or 0.5%, to 32086. -
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-0.94%
dropped 25 points, or 0.6%, to 3953. -
Nasdaq 100 futures
NQ00,
-0.61%
fell 48 points, or 0.4%, to 12806.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
rose 75 points, or 0.23%, to 32105, the S&P 500
SPX,
increased 12 points, or 0.3%, to 3949, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
gained 117 points, or 1.01%, to 11787.
What’s driving markets
Data released after the close on Thursday showed that banks slightly reduced their emergency borrowing from the Fed, to $163.9 billion from $164.7 billion in the latest week.
But the issue of the fragile banking sector was still in the spotlight, both in the U.S. and Europe. Deutsche Bank
DBK,
shares dropped 8% while UBS
UBSG,
which has agreed to buy Credit Suisse, fell 6%.
Deutsche Bank’s AT1 securities — which convert into equity in the event of a failure — have dropped sharply in value after Switzerland wiped out the value of similar instruments from Credit Suisse while preserving some value in its equity. Other bank regulators have said they will not follow suit.
Concerns about the fragility of the banking sector comes after a wave of central bank interest rate hikes, but the Federal Reserve and other central bankers bet they can resume their inflation fight while using other facilities to curb bank sector stress.
The U.S. economics calendar on Friday includes durable-goods orders and flash purchasing managers index data, with St. Louis Fed President James Bullard due to speak.
