By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures were trading steady in early APAC deals on Thursday after major benchmark indices fell sharply overnight to post the first daily decline of the year amid souring risk sentiment as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting revealed the central bank discussing a reduction of its balance sheet in another move to aggressively dial back its pandemic-era easy monetary policy.
On Wednesday, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 392.54 points or 1.07% lower, easing from intraday records. The S&P 500 fell 92.94 points or 1.94% to 4700.59 while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite shed 522.54 points or 3.34% for its biggest one-day loss since February last year.
Dow Jones 30 Futures added 0.16%, S&P 500 futures edged 0.09% higher and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.07%.
Among stocks, technology companies proved major laggards as Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) shed 8.21%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) lost 1.89%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) fell 3.84%, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) dipped 3.67%, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) lost 2.66% and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 4.59%.
EV makers also fell with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) down 5.35%, Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) losing 11.22% and Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) falling 6.93%.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year yields were nearing 8-month highs of 1.7%.
On the data front, investors will be looking ahead to the weekly jobless claims report set to be released later in the session.