Dow Jones futures fell 181 points, or 0.7%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively. The moves followed a broad rally in stocks a day earlier as the Bank of England announced it would buy bonds in a bid to help stabilize its financial markets and the surging British pound. Sterling has sunk to record lows against the US dollar in recent days. It marked a sharp shift from the aggressive tightening campaign many global central banks have undertaken to tackle rising inflation. The Dow rose Wednesday, or 1.9%, while the S&P 500 rose nearly 2% after hitting a new market low on Tuesday. Both indexes snapped six-day losing streaks. As stocks rallied and the BOE shared its bond-buying plan, the yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell by the most since 2020, briefly above 4%. “If the market had a negative sign ahead of it today, rather than a positive sign, I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “The market is going to do what it does every day. You can try to show what might be behind it, but that’s just a parlor game. A lot of it is that the market was oversold and buyers stepped in.” Wednesday’s rally put the major averages on pace to post small gains for the week, but they remain on track to close out their worst month since June. The Nasdaq Composite led the monthly losses, down about 6.5%, while the Dow and S&P are on pace to close 5.8% and 5.9% lower, respectively. On a quarterly basis, the Nasdaq is on track to snap a two-quarter losing streak, while the Dow is headed for its third consecutive quarterly loss for the first time since the third quarter of 2015. The S&P is on pace for its third consecutive negative quarter for the first time since the six-quarter negative streak that ended in the first quarter of 2009.
