US futures push lower as the risk mood holds more mixed today

S&P 500 futures are now down 0.9% on the day as losses continue to build to start European morning trade. Tech shares are leading declines once more with Nasdaq futures down 1.1% currently. Meanwhile in Europe, major indices are holding slight gains after the more sluggish showing late yesterday. Germany’s benchmark DAX index is at least looking to recover some poise after three straight days of declines, sitting up 0.7% currently.There is plenty to digest in terms of market happenings in the last 24 hours. For one, the heavy selling in precious metals is causing a stir as volatility spikes look to be more frequent in ending the week/month. That especially as correction risks are starting to build for both gold and silver, so that’s unsettling investors somewhat.Then, there was the volatile swings in Wall Street yesterday too with the S&P 500 briefly flirting with record highs early in the day before falling by 1.5% and then recovering to close just 0.1% lower. The tumultuous action was not helped by Microsoft posting a roughly 10% drop post-earnings, its worst one-day decline since March 2020.Sticking with earnings, Apple posted a blockbuster result in after hours but that isn’t enough to lift sentiment today. The tech giant topped Q1 earnings estimates on record-breaking iPhone sales. However, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, warned that the global memory crunch is going to hit the company’s margins going forward.Besides that, we also have Trump’s pick of Fed chair in anticipation as Kevin Warsh looks to be the favourite now. It’s a mixed stance as Warsh has been previously critical of loose monetary policy in labelling that “inflation is a choice”. However, he has recently aligned himself with Trump’s vision for lower interest rates so I guess that should be the more important thing to keep in mind. One has to do some politicking to get the job and to stay in it, he has to play the part in keeping Trump happy.And then, there’s also the prospect of a US government shutdown after a dramatic late-night session where the Democrats blocked major funding package that would have funded roughly 96% of the government through September.But shortly after the vote failed, Trump and Senate majority leader Schumer reportedly struck a tentative agreement to prevent a total collapse. That being said, we could still be facing a “technical” shutdown come what may.Even if the Senate passes the deal today, the House cannot vote on it until Monday – when it is scheduled to return to session. As such, some government functions may be technically closed for the next 48 to 72 hours as a result. So, we’ll see.And adding to all this, there’s also month-end flows that could be causing some shenanigans in the flows we’re seeing. It’s a mix of everything and that is keeping markets on edge somewhat in just wanting to get through the weekend to get some clarity when we get into February trading next week.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.

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