MW: Dow futures skid 330 points on China halt, oil slide
U.S. stock futures slumped again on Thursday, as another trading halt in Chinese shares and sliding oil prices fueled heavy selling and pointed to another tumultuous day on Wall Street.
This is the second time this week that newly implemented circuit breakers in China have been triggered by steep falls for stocks, fueling plunges in U.S. and European markets.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMH6, -1.90% slumped 336 points, or 2% to 16,499, while those for the S&P 500 index ESH6, -1.88% sank 40 points, or 2%, to 1,945. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 NQH6, -2.40% erased 115 points, or 2.6%, to 4,331.
“The stock market is still expensive and vulnerable to outside shocks. We are in the middle of a correction, but it is not the end of the world,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.
“Friday’s jobs report will remind a lot of bears out there that the domestic economy is still ok,” Ablin said.
A report on weekly jobless claims showed that in 2015 the number of Americans who applied for new unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in 42 years. Friday brings the closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report, with analysts polled by MarketWatch expecting 215,000 new jobs created last month.
