Futures hit ‘limit down’ range; oil drops 5%

Wall Street is continuing its unprecedented roller-coaster ride amid the coronavirus turmoil, with stock index futures plunging about 4% overnight to enter “limit down” territory once again.

In fact, the S&P 500 has swung 4% or more in either direction for the last seven consecutive sessions, topping the previous record of six days from November 1929.

The latest? Traders are having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the government response to COVID-19 fallout still unfolding, while crude just dropped another 5% to $25/bbl amid an oil price war.

Markets rebounded from their deepest rout since 1987 on Tuesday as the White House weighed a fiscal package of more than $1T that includes helicopter cash for Americans and financial relief to small businesses and the airline industry.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said corporations will be able to defer tax payments of up to $10M, while individuals could defer up to $1M in payments to the IRS.

Adding to the sentiment, the Fed announced it would reopen the so-called Commercial Paper Funding Facility, a key market backstop first set up during the last financial crisis.

Update (6:00 a.m. ET): The SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF is down 5.5% to $238.93/share.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3552769-futures-hit-limit-down-range-oil-drops-5