Stock futures point to the Dow shedding over 450 points Thursday while Treasury yields sank for a fourth day as investors unwound bets on a spell of high growth and inflation.
Futures on the S&P 500 dropped 1.2%, suggesting the broad stock-market gauge will pull back at the opening bell a day after it closed at an all-time high. Contracts for the technology-heavy Nasdaq-100 retreated roughly 1.2%.
Stocks have powered to a series of record highs this year, but some investors have grown concerned about the outlook for the economy on signs that labor shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks may crimp the pace of recovery. The spread of the highly contagious delta variant of coronavirus globally is adding to worries. Investors also are gearing up for a spell of potentially volatile summer trading, when trading desks tend to be lightly staffed.
“There is a bit of a recognition that things aren’t looking as economically positive as they were in mid-June when everything seemed to be hitting that Goldilocks middle ground,” said Edward Park, chief investment officer at Brooks Macdonald. “Delta, or the next delta, will be a recurring risk in markets,” Mr. Park said, adding that surveys of U.S. activity had fallen short of expectations in recent days.
In a sign of jitters among investors about the virus, sectors that are dependent on a speedy economic expansion, like energy producers and banks, have lagged behind shares of fast-growing tech companies in recent weeks.