Futures sink on report China may slow U.S. bond purchases

[January 10, 2018]  By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock market futures pointed to a 100 point fall for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday, spooked by a report that China is considering slowing or halting purchases of U.S. government debt.

The trading floor is seen on the final day of trading for the year at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York, U.S., December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

The dollar dropped more than half a percent against a basket of currencies, while long-dated Treasury yields hit fresh highs after the Bloomberg report, which said the U.S. bond market was becoming less attractive for Beijing. [nL8N1P52Q3]

"The futures are indicating a nasty opening as climbing yields awaken investors to a possible meltdown in the government bond market," Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York, wrote in a client note.

"While we don't think that the Chinese chatter is true, the barrage of good macro news and climbing energy prices would justify higher yields."

If the losses hold until Wall Street open, it would be the first day of decline for the Dow in what has been a stellar opening to 2018 for U.S. stock markets.

At 6:50 a.m. ET (1150 GMT), Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were down 109 points, or 0.43 percent, with 27,895 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis <ESc1> were down 10.25 points, or 0.37 percent, with 182,167 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis <NQc1> were down 34.25 points, or 0.51 percent, on volume of 33,940 contracts.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; editing by Arunkumar K and Patrick Graham)

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