* S&P 500 futures, European stocks drop 1.5%
* Dollar index eyes weekly gain
* Asian equities eye weekly drop
* Chinese short-term rates surge amid tight liquidity
By Carolyn Cohn
LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - European stocks and U.S. stock
futures fell on Friday and the safe-haven dollar looked set for
a weekly gain as a Wall Street battle between hedge funds and
retail investors and a row in Europe over COVID-19 vaccine
supply cooled risk appetite.
Wall Street has been gripped by a coordinated assault by
small traders organising over online forums, such as Reddit, to
force hedge funds to reverse short positions - or bets that
stocks would fall - on companies such as GameStop GME.N and
AMC Entertainment AMC.N .
The attack comes after central bank and government stimulus
have propelled stock markets to record highs, encouraging buying
by retail investors.
"The GameStop saga will end, leaving a sour taste in
policymakers' mouths," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at
Swissquote Bank.
"The story could be a trigger for action that could bring
the government and the central bank to revise their ultra-loose
policies that throw liquidity in the middle, and not towards a
reasonable target."
Brokers cut off borrowing facilities and restricted trading
in some of the hottest names overnight, driving down their
prices. The boss of popular online broker Robinhood said the curbs
were deployed to protect the brokerage and its customers but
that some restrictions will be lifted on Friday. S&P 500 futures ESc1 fell 1.5% and Nasdaq 100 futures
NQc1 fell 1.8%, more than reversing gains made on Thursday as
the earnings season got off to a strong start. .N
Britain's FTSE 100 index .FTSE fell 1.7% and was set to
record its worst week since October. European stocks .STOXX
fell 1.5%.
VACCINE ROW
COVID-19 vaccine production delays have snowballed into a
spat between Britain, the European Union and drugmakers over how
best to direct limited supplies. Europe's fight to secure vaccines intensified on Thursday
when the EU warned drug companies that it would use all legal
means or even block exports unless they agreed to deliver shots
as promised. Britain's former vaccine chief Kate Bingham said on Friday
she did not believe the EU would block exports. New variants of the novel coronavirus have also prolonged
lockdowns and delayed expectations of an economic rebound.
"The pandemic continues to cast a dark shadow and the timing
of any recovery, economic or social, remains unclear,” said
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
Click here http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j for an interactive chart
on the vaccine race
The U.S. dollar rose to a seven-week high against the yen
JPY=EBS , and gained 0.2% against an index of currencies
=USD , bringing its weekly rise to 0.6%. The euro EUR= fell
0.12% and the pound GBP= dropped 0.3%.
German 10-year government bond yields DE10YT=RR ticked up
one basis point.
World stocks .MIWD00000PUS fell 0.5% towards three-week
lows set in the previous session.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1.1% and is on course for a weekly loss of
4.4%. Japan's Nikkei .N225 fell 1.9%, recording its first
weekly loss of the year.
Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) injected 100
billion yuan into the financial system on Friday, following a
week of reducing liquidity, which had sparked concerns the
central bank was in fact tightening monetary policy.
Still, the extra money did little to loosen short-term money
markets, where rates rose for a fifth straight day and benchmark
overnight repo rates CN1DRP=CFXS surged to their highest in
nearly six years. Oil prices were steady, sticking to ranges seen in the last
three weeks, with stalled vaccine rollouts capping upward
momentum.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 0.1% at $55.58 a barrel
and U.S. crude futures CLc1 slipped 0.27% to $52.20 a barrel.
O/R
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Global assets http://tmsnrt.rs/2jvdmXl
Global currencies vs. dollar http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
Emerging markets http://tmsnrt.rs/2ihRugV
MSCI All Country World Index Market Cap http://tmsnrt.rs/2EmTD6j
Hedge funds scrambling to exit shorts, cut losses https://tmsnrt.rs/3prlMgN
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