US pre-open: Stocks lower as global banking sector fears resurface
Wall Street futures were firmly in the red ahead of the bell one Friday as fears over the current state of the global banking system stirred up once again.
As of 1225 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.98%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.82% and 0.54% lower, respectively.
The Dow closed 75.14 points higher on Thursday despite interest rate hikes from a number of global central banks.
Stocks headed south after Deutsche Bank's credit default swaps jumped, a form insurance for bondholders against default, raising concerns over the health of the European banking industry just a short while after Swiss regulators forced UBS to acquire rival Credit Suisse.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has already stated that regulators were will to take further action to stabilise banks stateside, if required, as she attempted to boost confidence in the US banking system following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
Scope Markets' James Hughes said: "Wall Street is currently looking at a modestly lower start to the day but there's not much in it with indices set to fall back towards yesterday’s opening levels at the bell.
"Many investors appear to be mindful of the risk that further shocks to the banking system could emerge and this is injecting a degree of caution into sentiment, but with economic data due for release in the coming hours having the potential to impress yet again on the underlying economic strength of the US, policy hawks aren't going to be short of arguments."
On the macro front, February durable goods orders will be published at 1230 GMT and flash readings of S&P Global's manufacturing, services and composite PMIs will follow at 1345 GMT.
St Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard will deliver a speech at 1330 GMT.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com