Stocks - US Futures Mixed; Social Distancing Guidelines Extended

By Peter Nurse     

Investing.com - U.S. stocks are set to open mixed Monday, but the overall tone remains one of caution as hopes for an early release from the lockdown policies to combat the spread of the coronavirus disappear.

At 7:25 AM ET (1125 GMT), futures for the S&P 500 traded 10 points, or 0.4%, higher, futures for the Nasdaq up 0.5%, while the Dow futures contract was up 0.2%. 

Overnight, President Donald Trump abandoned his hope of lifting social distancing restrictions on the U.S. economy by Easter, which falls on April 12 this year, extending the current guidance on social distancing to the end of April. Trump's press conference on Sunday marked an abrupt change of emphasis. As recently as last week, the president had appeared to prioritize getting the country back to work, in spite of the contagion risk.

White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci had earlier warned that the virus could kill up to 200,000 Americans. U.S. coronavirus cases surged over 140,000 Sunday, with more than 2,500 people having died.

Trump said while 100,000 is "a horrible number," if the U.S. can keep its death toll to "100,000, so we have between 100,000 and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job."

Trading is likely to remain volatile given the uncertainty surrounding the virus outbreak and the associated economic damage.

The S&P 500 gained just over 10% last week, its biggest weekly win since 2009, while the Dow’s 12.8% weekly gain was its biggest since 1938. That said, even with these gains, the Dow is still on course for its biggest monthly loss since 1998, while the S&P and NASDAQ Composite are set for their worst months since 2008.

Turning to corporate news, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) posted strong gains premarket, up around 12%, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the medical device maker to produce a coronavirus test that delivers positive results in as little as five minutes.

The company expects the tests to be available next week and expects to ramp up manufacturing to deliver 50,000 tests per day.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will also be in focus on reports workers plan to strike at its Staten Island warehouse amid demands for protection against the coronavirus.

Amazon shares rose 1% in premarket trade.

There is little in the way of important economic data due for release Monday, but the U.S. {{ecl-227||nonfarm payrolls} }report for March is due Friday. However, the collection of this data likely preceded the worst of the impact on the labor market. 

Ahead of that, Thursday’s jobless claims report is expected to show another massive wave of new claims for unemployment benefits in the week to March 28, after they surged to a record 3.28 million in the preceding week.

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Oil slumped to an 18-year low overnight, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hit economic growth and oil demand.

At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), U.S. crude futures traded 5.6% lower at $20.30 a barrel, dipping briefly below $20 overnight. The international benchmark Brent contract fell 6% to $26.27.

Additionally, gold futures dropped 0.4% to $1,647.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded at $1.1069, down 0.7%.