In the ‘red’ the futures of the Wall – Dow falls 350 points

LAST UPDATE: 14.45

Significant losses are recorded by Wall futures at the beginning of the week, then of the sell-off of last Thursday and Friday which led the Nasdaq to the “deep red” with a fall of 3% and the Dow and S&P 500 to lose 1.75% and 1.9% respectively on a 5-day basis.

Thus, the futures of the Dow Jones are losing 350 points or 1%, while earlier they slipped by 530 points. S&P 500 futures are down 1.1% or 35 points, while Nasdaq futures are slipping 1.3% or 200 points.

Last week’s losses came in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s more aggressive stance, which decided to accelerate tapering and estimated that it would proceed with three interest rate hikes in 2022.

“Time will tell if investors are backing central bank decisions as much as it initially seemed,” said Craig Erlam, an OANDA analyst on the Fed and other major central bank monetary decisions last week. “The decade – and above – of extremely low interest rates has been favorable for investors and the course that many central banks are now taking makes their life a little more difficult, but not as difficult as high inflation.”

Markets decline afterwards the blow to Joe Biden’s giant plan for social reform with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announcing that he will not approve this crucial program for the US president’s term, considering it particularly costly in a period of inflation.

The White House immediately denounced Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin for voting against the social spending bill, calling it a “sudden and inexplicable reversal” in the midst of ongoing negotiations.

Goldman Sachs downgraded its US growth forecast for 2022, citing difficulties in passing the spending bill.

The climate in the US market is exacerbated by growing concerns about the impact of the spread of the Omicron mutation on the economic recovery. New coronavirus cases are on the rise in many parts of the world, with Dr Anthony Fauci saying Sunday he expects a record number of cases this winter and urging people to get vaccinated and get boosted doses.