S&P 500 Futures drop to one-month low amid market frenzy

• S&P 500 Futures extend Friday’s downbeat performance to refresh multi-day low.
• Silver recently caught fire on chatters over social media platforms.
• Vaccinations stay on the front foot but fresh case in Perth questions the bulls.
• EU-UK tussle, downbeat prints of China’s NBS Manufacturing PMI also favor risk-off mood.

Despite consolidating losses around 3,685-90, S&P 500 Futures decline near half a percent during Monday’s Asian session. The risk barometer bears the burden of market chatters suggesting a wild swing in certain assets. Also weighing on the mood could be the fresh coronavirus (COVID-19) case in Australia and the EU-UK tussles over the vaccine.

After Gamestop and the likes, silver gains Reddit traders’ attention. If we believe the latest chatters, the white metal is up for $1,000 level. The same pushed the market players toward the commodity in a manner that some of the trading platforms, like APMEX, have rejected orders.

Read: SilverSqueeze trends on Twitter as retail sites see high demand for the metal

Elsewhere, the Aussie government found one covid case in Perth’s hotel and announced a five-day lockdown as a precautionary measure to not have a further infection if at all it is a variant from either the UK or South Africa. On the positive side, global virus counts ease off-late as vaccinations jump with the UK, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel be the largest jab givers.

Alternatively, chatters surrounding the European dislike for AstraZeneca’s delay in the COVID-19 vaccines, despite recent promise to deliver additional nine million vials, heavy the risks. Furthermore, the recent weakness in China’s official manufacturing PMI for January, from 51.6 expected to 51.3, also challenges the market sentiment.

Amid these plays, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rises 0.89% but Australia’s ASX 200 drops 0.15%. Further, the US 10-year Treasury yields also declined 1.8 basis points (bps) to 1.07% by press time.

Although market chatters will be the key to watch, China’s Caixin Manufacturing PMI, expected 52.7 versus 53.0 prior, followed by the US ISM Manufacturing PMI, likely to recede from 60.7 to 59.5, will also be important to watch.