As China took steps to relieve pressure on its economy from the impact of the 2019-nCoV coronavirus, U.S. stock index futures climbed on Monday, following steep declines in the previous session.
The country’s central bank cut reverse repo rates by 10 basis points and injected 1.2 trillion yuan ($171 billion) to limit the damage from travel curbs and business shut-downs on the economy.
Fears surrounding the spread of coronavirus, which has been declared a global emergency, had led the S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow Jones Industrials .DJI to record on Friday their worst weekly losses in at least five months.
The uncertainty following the virus outbreak has pulled the benchmark S&P 500 down about 3% since Jan. 21, when the first case was reported in the United States, and has overshadowed fourth-quarter earnings season.
At 7:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 96 points, or 0.34%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 13 points, or 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 38.75 points, or 0.43%… Meanwhile, Apple Inc. slipped 1.2% as the iPhone maker shut all of its official stores and corporate offices in mainland China until Feb 9.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, the closure of all Apple Retail Stores in China is going to have some impact on Apple’s results, hence the greater than usual range of guidance Apple provided last week for the company’s fiscal 2020 second quarter:
• revenue between $63.0 billion and $67.0 billion
• gross margin between 38.0 percent and 39.0 percent
• operating expenses between $9.6 billion and $9.7 billion
• other income/(expense) of $250 million
• tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent