Futures Point To More Losses For Technology Stocks

Stock futures point to further losses for American shares when markets re-open on Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend.

Investor concerns over valuation and extreme positions in technology stocks appear to be persisting. Global equities fell the most since June last week as doubt crept into investors’ minds about whether equities have risen too fast and valuations are reaching extremes.

Futures on the S&P 500 Index were little changed Monday. But Nasdaq futures dropped 0.8%.

U.S. technology shares, which have seen a powerful rally through the depths of the pandemic, showed signs of buckling at the end of last week amid reports that huge options bets were fanning their gains. The roller coaster ensnared SoftBank Group Corp., which slumped 7% after reports that the Japanese conglomerate made massive bets on tech-linked options trades.

Meanwhile, The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.3%. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.3%.The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 0.5% in Monday trading.

European stocks climbed as analysts speculated the market could be resilient to the tech-led downdraft in the U.S. The Europe Stoxx 600 rose Monday with broad gains across industry groups. Oil slumped on a price reduction by Saudi Arabia. The dollar strengthened while Treasury yields were little changed. Gold fell in trading on Monday.

In China, data on Monday continued to suggest a patchy recovery. Exports continued to expand in August as the country’s major trading partners gradually resumed business activities, although imports unexpectedly dropped.

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was unchanged at 0.72%. Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.47%. Britain’s 10-year yield sank two basis points to 0.244%. Japan’s 10-year yield gained one basis point to 0.047%.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.4% to $39.22 a barrel.

Gold weakened 0.2% to $1,929.16 an ounce, while Brent crude declined 1.4% to $42.06 a barrel.