S&P Futures Opening Update as on 20 Feb 2020

US PRE MARKET

The S&P 500 Futures is trading at 3,381.38 with a loss of -0.17% percent or -5.87 point.Other U.S. stock futures lower in pre-market trading for Feb 20.The Dow Futures is trading at 29,288.50 with a loss of -0.17% percent or -48.50 point. The Nasdaq Futures is trading at 9,715.50 with a loss of -0.18% percent or -18.00 point.

THURSDAY’S FACTORS AND EVENTS

China’s stimulus measures continued at pace this morning, as it lopped ten basis points of the one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) to 3.95%, and five basis points of the 5-year LPR to 4.75%. New cases of coronavirus in China fell to just over 300, sparking a new wave of V-shaped recovery optimism in markets this morning. Wall Street yesterday, Australia and New Zealand equity markets this morning all hit record highs with oil rallying hard overnight and palladium making yet another record high.

Before we all get carried away though, Bloomberg reported that the reason that new cases of coronavirus have fallen, is that China has changed its reporting methodology for the second time in seven days. Eliminating those who appear virus-positive after a CT-scan. There are two ways of looking at this. On the one hand, a cynic might suggest China is massaging its data to paint a rosier picture. Something it has been undoubtedly accused of in the past. On the other, one can argue that China is dynamic in its reporting, due to the science coming in from the front line. Expertise it sadly, undoubtedly has.

WEDNESDAY’S ACTIVITY

For the day the Dow is trading at 28,807.63 up with +1.44% percent or +407.82 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 3,297.59 up with +1.50% percent or +48.67 point. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 9,467.97 up with +2.10% percent or +194.57 point.

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,692.57 up with +0.54% percent or +9.05 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 1,016.31 up with +0.36% percent or +3.64 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 2,098.57 up with +0.45% percent or +9.38 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,518.94 up with +0.52% percent or +7.82 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,984.26 up with +0.49% percent or +9.59 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,875.24 up with +0.48% or +9.00 point

In other parts of world, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at 23,479.15 up with +0.34% percent or +78.45 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 27,587.97 with a loss of –0.25% percent or ?67.84 point. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading at 3,030.15 up with +1.84% percent or +54.75 point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 41,393.37 up with +0.17% percent or +70.37 point at 12:15 PM.Germany’s DAX is trading at 13,783.69 with a loss of – 0.039% percent or –5.31 point. France’s CAC 40 is trading at 6,101.34 with a loss of –0.16% percent or –9.90 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 is trading at 432.64 with a loss of -0.29% percent or -1.26 point.

Indices	Last	Chg	Chg%
DOW 30	43,126.20	-142.78	-0.33%
S&P 500	5,878.83	-38.15	-0.64%
NASDAQ COMPO	18,828.70	-158.75	-0.84%
FTSE 100	8,085.07	-13.95	-0.17%
DAX	19,004.80	-55.53	-0.29%
NIKKEI 225	38,352.30	-62.09	-0.16%
SHANGHAI COM	3,367.99	21.98	0.66%

Futures	Last	Chg	Chg%
DOW 30 FUTUR	43,114.50	-154.40	-0.36%
S&P 500 FUTU	5,878.40	-38.60	-0.65%
NASDAQ 100 F	20,506.70	-174.60	-0.84%
FTSE 100 FUT	8,104.80	-12.20	-0.15%
DAX FUTURES	19,077.00	-42.00	-0.22%
US DOLLAR IN	106.74	0.54	0.51%
S&P 500 VIX	17.380	0.970	5.940%

Commodities	Last	Chg	Chg%
GOLD	2,658.00	27.00	1.03%
SILVER	31.215	-0.047	-0.150%
COPPER	4.1455	0.0035	0.0800%
CRUDE OIL	69.600	0.210	0.300%
BRENT OIL	73.430	0.120	0.160%
NATURAL GAS	3.2030	0.2050	6.8400%