Global markets tumbled on fears over slowing global growth Thursday, as well as the Fed’s plans to taper asset purchases.
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee minutes state that the Fed is preparing to taper its bond purchases in 2021.
Fed officials stressed that the reduction in asset purchases does not mean that the Fed will also raise interest rates. However, that was not enough to reassure the markets, which are now addicted to Fed’s easy money. (Story continues below.)
Investors will be looking at jobless claims data, set to be released before the market opens.
Equities
U.S. stock futures were in free-fall after the Fed announced it would remove some of the monetary support in 2021.
| Level | Chg. | Chg. % | |
| DOW Futures | 34,608.00 | -300 | -0.86 |
| S&P 500 Futures | 4,362.75 | -31.75 | -0.72% |
| Nasdaq Futures | 14,766.25 | -83 | -0.56% |
U.S. Dollar and Treasuries
U.S. Treasury yields dropped The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose three basis points. The dollar strengthened.
| Price | Chg. | Chg. % | |
| U.S. Dollar Index (DXY): | 93.31 | +0.17 | (+0.19%) |
| Yield | Change | Previous close | |
| U.S. 1 Year Treasury Bill | 0.068% | -0.003 | 0.070% |
| U.S. 2 Year Treasury Note | 0.210% | -0.004 | 0.213% |
| U.S. 5 Year Treasury Note | 0.744% | -0.026 | 0.770% |
| U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note | 1.233% | -0.028 | 1.262% |
| U.S. 20 Year Treasury Bond | 1.778% | -0.056 | 1.797% |
| U.S. 30 Year Treasury Bond | 1.856% | -0.043 | 1.899% |
Stocks To Watch
Biotech company Sonnet BioTherapeutics more than doubled in value on retail investor interest. Investors believe that the small-cap company is a good target for a short squeeze.
PharmaCyte Biotech dropped after almost doubling in value during Wednesday’s regular trading hours. The surge was triggered by the company’s listing on Nasdaq.
Eros STX Global, a studio company, surged after closing a major deal with Amazon to stream its upcoming releases.
| Symbol | Price | Chg. | Chg. % | Volume | |
| Sonnet Biotherapeutics | SONN | $1.56 | +0.8149 | +109.37% | 18.54M |
| PharmaCyte Biotech | PMCB | $4.02 | -5.88 | -59.39% | 12.18M |
| Eros STX Global | ESGC | $0.81 | +0.1507 | +22.86% | 4.24M |
Commodities To Watch
Oil was in free-fall as investors worried about falling global demand due to the spread of the delta variant, combined with increasing supply from top producers. Gold strengthened, despite the dollar rally.
| Price | Chg. % | |
| WTI Crude Oil | $63.22 | -3.42% |
| Brent Crude Oil | $66.17 | -3.02% |
| Natural Gas | $3.79 | -1.71% |
| Gold | $1,790.10 | 0.32% |
| Silver | $23.32 | $0.00 |
| Copper | $3.99 | -3.07% |
| Soybeans | $1,339.25 | -1.03% |
Crypto
Crypto coin market cap dropped below $2 trillion amid profit-taking.
| Global cap | global cap chg.% |
| $1.90T | 0.46% |
| Symbol | Price | Chg. % | Market Cap. | |
| Bitcoin | BTC | $44,342.34 | -0.98% | $833.22b |
| Etherium | ETH | $2,988.12 | -0.53% | $348.87b |
| Cardano | ADA | $2.08 | +5.94% | $64.60b |
| Ripple | XRP | $1.11 | +2.95% | $48.87b |
| Dogecoin | DOGE | $0.2981 | +3.93% | $39.02b |
