Futures resume selloff, contracts on the S&P 500 drop more than 1%

Stock futures opened lower Thursday evening, erasing gains from the regular trading session and setting up more trading volatility to end the week.

Stocks had staged a modest recovery during the regular trading session Thursday as investors scooped up technology shares that had fallen precipitously amid the broader market’s recent declines. Energy stocks also outperformed, with U.S. crude oil prices posting their best single-day percentage gain on record just a day after falling to the lowest price in more than 18 years.

While Thursday’s session offered a momentary respite after weeks of striking declines, most market participants anticipate further volatility as impending corporate earnings results and economic data begin to incorporate the fuller effects of the coronavirus outbreak. Already a growing number of companies have tossed their full-year outlooks out the window, giving time assess the impact of the ever-evolving health crisis.

As companies cut costs and reduce workers’ hours amid store closures, economists are bracing for a surge in joblessness and slump in consumer spending to take a blow to the previously booming U.S. labor market and services economy. A report Thursday showed new unemployment insurance claims jumped to the highest level in more than two years last week.

The number of coronavirus cases climbed above 236,000 globally on Thursday, including more than 11,000 in the U.S. The number of deaths in Italy overtook those in China, the original epicenter of the outbreak, further escalating concerns that the pandemic remains far from being contained globally. The U.S. State Department Thursday afternoon issued an advisory urging U.S. citizens not to travel internationally at all amid the coronavirus outbreak.

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6:02 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures fall amid renewed selling

Futures for each of the three major indices dropped during late trading Thursday, reversing gains from the regular session.

Here were the main moves in markets, as of 6:02 p.m. ET:

• S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 2,348.5, -40.5 or -1.7%

• Dow futures (YM=F): 19,500.00, -375 or -1.89%

• Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 7,163.50, -110.5 or -1.51%

• 10-year Treasury note: yielding 1.158%, unchanged

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