New York, USA – May 8, 2018: Wall Street sign near New York Stock Exchange with flags of the United States.
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This is a live blog. Here’s what’s happening:
9:30 am: Stocks open little changed on final day of strong week
Stocks opened slightly lower on Friday after China’s decision not to set a formal GDP target for the year, which contributed to a selloff in Asian markets. The Dow fell 32 points, or 0.1%, in the opening minutes. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq made similar dips. All three major U.S. indexes have climbed roughly 3% week-to-date. —Pound
8:52 am: U.S.-China relationship could be a growing issue for market
With the issue of China becoming a larger focus in the U.S. presidential election, rising tensions between Washington and Beijing could become a more persistent headwind for markets.
So far, the strained relationship — including a war of words between the U.S. and China over blame for the coronavirus, the U.S. crackdown on Huawei and now Chinese companies listing on U.S. exchanges — has not had a major impact on the U.S. stock market. But in the last two sessions, the U.S. relationship with China has hung over the market, especially as China announced new security measures for Hong Kong Friday and Beijing took the unusual step of withholding its GDP forecast because of the virus impact. —Domm
8:18 am: Joe Biden says economic recovery from Covid-19 looks ‘a long way away’
Former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden said Friday that economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic looks “a long way away.” In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” the Democrat criticized the 2017 Republican tax cuts and questioned what the U.S. could use the lost revenue for as it combats an economic crisis. — Pramuk
7:54 am: Moderna up 4.5% after Fauci says he’s cautiously optimistic on vaccine candidate
Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the White House’s top health-care advisors, said he was cautiously optimistic about recent data on Moderna’s vaccine candidate to combat Covid-19. Fauci told NPR on Friday that he was happy to see that the early-stage results and the levels of neutralizing antibodies in the eight patients tested in Moderna’s most-recent trial. Moderna’s stock is up 45% in May and rose 4.5% in premarket trading Friday morning. — Franck, Tirrell
7:40 am: Oil drops more than 5% on demand concerns
Oil prices moved lower on Friday after China abandoned its 2020 GDP target, fueling concerns that petroleum-product demand will remain depressed in the world’s second-largest oil user. West Texas Intermediate dipped 5.6%, or $1.92, to trade at $32.00 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent traded 4.7% lower at $34.37. The pullback comes amid a period of strength for oil, and due to a jump earlier this week oil is still on track to post its fourth straight week of gains. “The price of oil have been rising and rising and rising over the last couple of weeks. Although there is reason for the higher levels, a constant increase is not sustainable or justified,” said Rystad Energy’s senior oil markets analyst Paola Rodriguez Masiu. — Stevens
7:20 am: China decides not to set economic growth target for 2020
China took the unusual step of deciding not to set a target for its economic growth for 2020 thanks to the unprecedented uncertainty introduced by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our country will face some factors that are difficult to predict in its development due to the great uncertainty regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and the world economic and trade environment,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in an English-language text report.
The country’s economy contracted 6.8% in the first quarter, while unemployment has held hear historic highs thought data as recent as April suggest some recovery. Last year, China’s GDP grew by 6.1%, just making the official target range of 6% to 6.5%. — Franck, Cheng
7:15 am: Stock futures fall, point to more losses to end the week
Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes fell in premarket trading Friday morning with Wall Street set to end an otherwise strong week with modest losses. Dow futures implied an opening dip of about 100 points while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 contracts suggested declines of 0.4% and 0.5% respectively. Still, the major averages remained on pace for solid weekly gains. The Dow was up more than 3% week to date and headed for its biggest one-week gain since the week of April 9.
Trading will be suspended on Monday in the U.S. thanks to the Memorial Day holiday. — Franck
— CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng, Jacob Pramuk and Meg Tirrell contributed to this report.
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