Neil Wilson Says S&p 500 Futures Stay Red After Five-Week Low
S&p 500 futures were very much in the red after Tuesday’s Wall Street slide pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 to five-week lows. The move kept pressure on risk assets as traders weighed a hotter-feeling policy backdrop and the next US inflation print.
Tuesday’s tech sell-off
The S&P 500 fell 0.25 per cent on Tuesday and the Nasdaq lost nearly 1 per cent, while the Dow rose 0.2 per cent. The Vix, the volatility index (market gauge of expected swings), rose 23 points as semiconductor stocks dropped almost 9 per cent at one point, with Qualcomm finishing down around 6 per cent.
Apple fell more than 3 per cent, Microsoft lost 2 per cent and Tesla dropped 3 per cent. The weakness spread beyond one corner of the market and left the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 at five-week lows, a reset that has traders rethinking how much of the AI trade still has room to run.
Europe inches higher
European stocks were enjoying a little bounce on the morning described in the article, with the FTSE 100 creeping into the green even as miners weighed on the blue-chip index. Paris opened higher and Frankfurt was tougher, but that modest resilience did little to change the tone in US premarket trading.
US Treasury yields were falling during the sell-off and the oil price backed off to a two-month low, adding to the sense that the move was not confined to one pocket of the market. Kospi in Korea fell more than 4 per cent, Samsung and SK Hynix tumbled 6-7 per cent, and Softbank fell 10 per cent to weigh on the Nikkei.
Neil Wilson on inflation
Neil Wilson, investor strategist at Saxo UK, said: “The volatility index, the Vix, rose 23 points while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 fell to five-week lows.” He added that the current inflation print is going to be hugely important for risk sentiment, putting the next US data point at the center of market pricing.
Oracle was scheduled to report on the day of the article for the latest view on AI spending, giving traders one more read on whether the capital spending story is still carrying the sector. Everyone expected a hold at the June meeting of the Federal Reserve, and after that meeting it was fair game for the central bank, leaving inflation data as the cleaner near-term test for whether Tuesday’s sell-off has further to run.
