Stock futures sharply lower
U.S. stocks look set to open sharply lower on Monday, as the deadly coronavirus outbreak continues to worry investors. Chinese health officials said overnight that the death toll from the virus has jumped to 81, with nearly 3,000 confirmed ill across that country.
The virus, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has now spread to other counties around the world, including the U.S., France, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Nepal.
China has placed 15 cities with a population of about 57 million people on lockdown in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus. Investors fear the outbreak could take a heavy toll on travel, tourism and retail industries and ultimately corporate profits and global economy.
At around 4:15 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures moved 314 points, or 1.09% lower to 28,619. The S&P 500 futures declined 35.62 points, or 1.08% to 3,257.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were seen dropping 123.88 points, or 1.35% to 9,020.62.
Crude futures slide as coronavirus fears weigh
Meanwhile, crude futures also drifted lower on Monday morning as rising concerns that the coronavirus outbreak could hurt the global economy weakened demand sentiment.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $1.67, or around 3.08%, at $52.52 per barrel as of 4:15 a.m. ET. International Brent crude oil futures were at $58.11 a barrel, down $1.78, or about 2.97%.
The biggest week of earnings season is here
In other news, investors on Wall Street are bracing for the busiest week of the fourth-quarter earnings season with about half of the 30 Dow companies expected to report this week, including Boeing (NYSE: BA), Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT).
More than 140 S&P 500 companies are also due to announce their quarterly results this week, including Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM).
Companies scheduled to report today include Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR), Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), Arconic (NYSE: ARNC) and F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV).
