Stock futures fell on Thursday, putting the major averages on track to recoup some of the strong gains seen in the previous session.
Dow Jones futures fell 181 points, or 0.7%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively.
The moves followed a broad rally in stocks a day earlier as the Bank of England said it would buy bonds in an effort to help stabilize its financial markets and the cratering British pound. Sterling has fallen to record lows against the US dollar in recent days.
It marked a sharp turnaround from the aggressive tightening campaign that many global central banks have undertaken to deal with rising inflation.
The Dow gained 1.9% on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 rose nearly 2% after hitting a new market low on Tuesday. Both indexes broke six consecutive losing days.
As stocks rose and the BOE shared its bond-buying plan, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell by the most since 2020 after briefly above 4%.
“If the market had a negative sign going into today, and not a positive sign, I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “The market will do what it does on any given day. You can try to point out what might have been behind it, but that’s just a parlor game. A lot of it is that the market got carried away and the buyers stepped up. inside”.
Wednesday’s rally put the major averages on pace for small gains for the week, but they’re still on track for their worst month since June. The Nasdaq Composite led the monthly losses, down 6.5%, while the Dow and S&P are on pace to close down 5.8% and 5.9%, respectively.
Quarterly, the Nasdaq is on track to snap a two-quarter losing streak, while the Dow is headed for its third straight quarterly loss for the first time since the third quarter of 2015. The S&P is on pace for its third negative loss. consecutive quarter for the first time since its six-quarter negative streak that ended in the first quarter of 2009.