Futures retreat as Sino-U.S. tensions simmer

[May 22, 2020]  By Ambar Warrick

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures retreated on Friday as growing tensions between Washington and Beijing added to fears of a slower recovery from a coronavirus-led recession.

China moved on Friday to impose a national-security law in Hong Kong that could see mainland intelligence agencies set up bases in the global financial hub, raising fears of more pro-democracy protests.

The move could also ratchet up U.S.-China tensions as President Donald Trump on Thursday warned Washington would react "very strongly" if Beijing went ahead with the law. [MKTS/GLOB]

At 5:57 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 139 points, or 0.57%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 16.5 points, or 0.56%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 65.5 points, or 0.71%.

Still, Wall Street's main indexes were set to end Friday with weekly gains on the back of stimulus hopes and optimism over a pickup in business activity with a nationwide easing in lockdowns.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 7.1% in premarket trade after missing second-quarter revenue and profit estimates, hit by global lockdowns since February.

But data analytics software maker Splunk Inc rose 3.5% after saying it expects higher demand for its cloud services as people around the world take to working from home.

The Wall Street sign is pictured at the New York Stock exchange (NYSE) in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 9, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

SPDR S&P 500 ETFs were down 0.83%.

The S&P 500 index closed down 0.78% at 2,948.51​ on Thursday.

(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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