US pre-open: Futures point to more losses ahead of payrolls report
US futures were pointing to more losses ahead of the bell on Friday as investors looked ahead to the release of monthly non-farm payrolls data and a raft of comments from Federal Reserve heads.
As of 1220 GMT, Dow futures were down 2.09%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 2.26% and 2.61% weaker, respectively.
The Dow closed 969.58 points lower the day before as US stocks followed Europe's lead and headed south as the week's wild ride for stocks continued.
Airline stocks were still under pressure as market participants were still trying to decipher what the short- and long term impacts of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak on the global economy and corporate profits would be.
CMC Markets' analyst Michael Hewson said: "If the US Federal Reserve was hoping that its 50bp rate cut on Tuesday would help restore investor confidence then they miscalculated quite badly. This week's emergency rate cut would appear to be the equivalent of the central bank trying to throw a treble twenty in darts, and only succeeding in getting a treble one. In aiming to send a big message to the markets, all they succeeded in doing was sowing more fear, and using up some of their monetary policy buffer.
"US investors appear to be getting increasingly anxious as cases in the US accelerate sharply. Travel and airline stocks, after getting absolutely rinsed yesterday, have continued to fall."
Donald Trump also said he was considering enforcing further controls at its southern border in order to combat the outbreak, reigniting tensions surrounding migration into the States from Mexico.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note tumbled below 0.8% but recovered slightly from the all-time low of 0.6947% recorded earlier in the week. The USD was also on the defensive as risk aversion dominates.
On the macro front, non-farm payrolls figures and and a reading on January's foreign trade balance will be published at 1330 GMT, while January's consumer credit numbers will follow at 2000 GMT.
Federal Reserve heads Esther George, John Williams, Eric Rosengren, James Bullard, Charles Evans and Loretta Mester will all make comments throughout the course of the day.
No major corporate earnings were scheduled for release on Friday.