Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell sharply on Monday, amid concerns that heavily weighted Boeing Co. will drag the main index lower after the second deadly crash in six months involving one its planes.
How are major indexes faring?
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YMM9, -0.77% slid 185 points, or 0.7%, to 25,343, while S&P 500 futures ESM9, +0.01% were unchanged at 2,753.25. Nasdaq-100 futures NQM9, +0.09% gained 10 points, or 0.1%, to 7,067.75.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.09% logged its longest losing streak since June on Friday, bouncing off intraday lows to slide 22.99 points, or 0.1%, to 25,450.24. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.21% shed 0.2%, to 2,743.07, its worst string of losses since November, and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.18% dropped or 0.2%, to 7,408.14, marking its weakest stretch since April.
For the week, both the Dow and the S&P 500 fell 2.2% and the Nasdaq declined 2.5%.
What’s driving the market?
Shares of the Boeing BA, +0.00% the Dow’s most heavily weighted company, fell close to 9% in thin premarket trading, after one of the company’s 737 Max 8 planes operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after take off from the capital of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday. None of the 157 people on board survived.
It comes months after a crash of the same plane flown by Indonesia’s Lion Air, which crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff, killing 189 persons. The aerospace group released a statement expressing sympathy for the families of the victims, and said it would be sending a technical team to assist.
Investigators will be looking at the two separate crashes — both took place as the aircraft were taking off. The pilot of the Ethiopian flight was trying to return to the airport after reporting technical problems, and the weather was clear. China has grounded all 96 of its 737 Max 8 planes, and Ethiopia Airlines has also reportedly done the same.
Boeing has delivered about 350 of its best-selling 737 Max planes, with orders for more than 5,000, and the plane already in use by American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, -0.96% United Continental Holdings UAL, -0.25% and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, -1.26%
Last week, Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenberg told an aviation conference that purchases of his company’s planes by China could be part of a trade deal being hammered out by the two countries, Reuters reported last week. U.S. and Chinese officials have cited progress for those trade talks, but investors are still waiting for news of hard details or a concrete deal.
What could be a shaky start for the Dow comes on the heels of a tough week for investors, as concerns about a global slowdown coincided with the 10th anniversary of the bull market on Saturday. Investors were caught off guard by a surprisingly weak jobs number after the Labor Department announced the U.S. economy added just 20,000 new jobs in February, well below the 178,000 forecast by economists in a MarketWatch poll.
Read: On bull market’s 10th anniversary, can stock investors shrug off latest gloom?
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell played down worries over the economy in an interview with “60 Minutes” on Sunday, saying “there is no reason why this economy cannot continue to expand.”
Fresh data will come Monday in the form of retail sales for January, due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by business inventories for December at 10 a.m. Eastern.
What are analysts saying?
“Boeing stocks and more broadly airline stock will be in focus after the second deadly crash for Boeings new 737 Max 8 in just six months,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, in a note to clients. “This tragic incident will be a massive hurdle for Boeing to overcome.”
How are other markets trading?
Asian stocks had a mostly positive session, with the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -2.56% climbing 1.9%.
European stocks were trading higher to start the day, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.69% rising 0.3%.
The ICE Dollar Index DXY, -0.05% was flat, while gold prices GCJ9, -0.24% slipped 0.2% to $1,296.70 an ounce, and oil CLJ9, +1.12% prices rose, with a gain of 1.2% to $56.74 a barrel.
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