Gold prices steady ahead of Fed decision; weekly weakness noted
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* Energy stocks, banks set to lead rebound
* Trump's news conference due on Tuesday
* Futures up: Dow 3.97%, S&P 4.05%, Nasdaq 4.23%
(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Sanjana Shivdas and Medha Singh
March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures jumped about
4% on Tuesday, clawing back dramatic losses recorded a day
earlier on rising hopes for coordinated policy easing to avert a
global recession from the coronavirus epidemic.
Wall Street's main indexes plunged more than 7% on Monday -
the 11th anniversary of the longest U.S. bull run - as oil
prices plummeted following pledges by top producers Saudi Arabia
and Russia to increase output in an over-supplied market.
The selloff on Monday was so sharp it triggered trading
halts put in place in the wake of 1987's "Black Monday" crash,
with the blue-chip Dow Jones shedding as much as 2,000 points
and the indexes slipping toward a bear market.
Markets now await President Donald Trump's news conference
on Tuesday, a day after he promised "major" steps to combat the
virus outbreak and said he would discuss a payroll tax cut with
congressional Republicans. "For markets, confidence and, ultimately, economic activity
to turn up again, we will need clear evidence that the spread of
the virus is being held back sufficiently to allow health
systems to cope," said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at
Berenberg.
The number of confirmed virus cases in the United States
rose to 668 on Monday, from over 500 a day earlier.
Meanwhile, Italy has been placed under nationwide lockdown
until next month and Japan unveiled a $4 billion package to help
combat the outbreak. At 7:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 947 points, or
3.97%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 111.25 points, or 4.05%,
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 336.25 points, or 4.23%.
The S&P 500 has not yet posted a one-day gain of 5% in this
bull market - which began with the bottoming of the benchmark
index on March 9, 2009. The index's biggest one-day gain in this
run so far was 4.959% on Dec. 26, 2018.
Oil also recouped some losses from its biggest one-day
decline since the Gulf War in 1991, supported by expectations
for a settlement to the price war and potential U.S. output
cuts. O/R
Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron Corp CVX.N
climbed more than 7% in premarket trading, while Occidental
Petroleum Corp OXY.N , Apache Corp APA.N and Marathon Oil
Corp MRO.N jumped between 18% and 25%.
Shares of U.S. banks including Bank of America Corp BAC.N ,
Citigroup Inc C.N , JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N , Goldman Sachs
GS.N , Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N and Morgan Stanley MS.N were
up between 4.7% and 6%.
The S&P banks index .SPXBK fell about 14.2% on Monday, in
its worst day since April 2009, as the yield on the U.S. 10-year
Treasury US10YT=RR slid to a record low.
Focus will also be on the showdown between Democratic
presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in Michigan,
following the former vice president's near sweep on Super
Tuesday.