(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell more than 1% on Thursday as the growing spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant cast doubts over an economic recovery, while a rout in Chinese technology stocks appeared to have spilled over.
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic warned that a spike in the highly infectious variant could hamper a U.S. economic recovery.
Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June meeting also showed that officials felt that an economic recovery still had a long way to go.
U.S.-listed Chinese stocks tumbled in premarket trading, tracking steep losses in China and Hong Kong as investors feared more strict measures from Beijing on the technology sector.
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group fell 2.6%, while internet search engine Baidu shed 3.8%.
Didi Global, whose app takedown by the Chinese government had sparked a recent selloff, fell 6.5%, while FAANG group of companies dropped between 0.9% to 1.7%.
The CBOE Volatility index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, jumped 3.1 points to its highest level in over two weeks.
At 5:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 367 points, or 1.06%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 43.75 points, or 1.01% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 156.5 points, or 1.06%.
(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
