BLBG: S&P 500 on Track for Relief Rally After Worst Slump in 4 Years
U.S. index futures are signaling the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will claw back some of losses from a global rout that sent the benchmark to its steepest two-day drop since the financial crisis.
Contracts on the S&P 500 rose 3.4 percent to 1,935.75, briefly extending a rally after China cut its interest rate and reserve requirement ratios. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 3.4 percent, while those on the Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 4.2 percent.
“Now that the People’s Bank of China is addressing widespread concerns of inaction, we could see a fairly significant bounce,” said Ross Yarrow, director of U.S. equities at Robert W. Baird & Co. in London. “The S&P 500 has fallen 10 percent in the last few days purely on China. The move seems extreme.”
Netflix Inc., the hardest hit over the past few days, rallied 8 percent in premarket trading. Apple Inc. added 6.2 percent. Best Buy Co. surged after posting better-than-expected profit. PayPal Holdings Inc., Tesla Motors Inc. and Twitter Inc. are also among the more than 100 stocks gaining at least 1 percent.
The slump that wiped $2.7 trillion off the value of global equities was triggered by the devaluation of the Chinese yuan on Aug. 11, which spurred a domino drop in emerging-market assets on concern growth in the world’s second-biggest economy is faltering. Commodities, riskier assets and European exporters suffered as investors fled to safety, until yesterday, when panic selling gripped what was once the bastion of stability -- the U.S. equity market.
After a day of wild swings, the S&P 500 lost 3.9 percent Monday to cap a 7 percent two-day retreat, the most since December 2008, and enter its first correction since 2011. JPMorgan Chase & Co. today recommended buying at these levels.
Economic reports may further soothe investors -- a consumer confidence index is expected to advance from last month, while July home purchases are also expected to gain. Bloomberg consensus anticipates new home sales will rise 5.8 percent to an annualized pace of 510,000.
“The correction was a much-needed breather,” said Kully Samra, who manages U.K. clients for Charles Schwab Corp. in London. “It had been four years since U.S. stocks had seen a correction and there had been very long span of very mild equity performance.”
Netflix shares were helped by a note from Nomura Holdings Inc., which said the video streaming service’s partnership with SoftBank Group is a positive. Apple, which plunged 12 percent since August 17, added to gains after Wells Fargo & Co. recommended buying the stock.
