U.S. stock futures pointed to deeper losses to start the month after all three major averages registered their biggest August percentage declines since 2015.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 tumbled 0.8%, and futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased 190 points, or 0.6%. Tech continued to lead the way down, with contracts on the Nasdaq Composite sliding 1.2%. Meanwhile, the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield reached 3.2%, its highest level since June.
A downbeat start to September comes on the heels of four straight sessions of selling amid renewed fears of restrictive monetary policy and a potential recession. In August, the benchmark S&P 500 fell 4.2%, the Dow was down 4.1%, and the Nasdaq posted a monthly loss of 4.6%.
“A soft landing looks pretty unlikely,” Wells Fargo Head of Macro Strategy Mike Schumacher told Yahoo Finance Live. “A lot of things would have to go incredibly well — you’d have to have the energy situation ease, which is shy of a miracle at this point, COVID probably has to be pretty moderate if you think about a surge this fall or this winter.”
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) barreled down more than 5% in pre-market trading Thursday after the chipmaker said U.S. officials ordered the company to halt sales to China of two of its top computing chips used for artificial intelligence. Nvidia may lose an estimated $400 million in potential sales in China as a result of the restriction.
In commodities, oil prices extended their fall lower as worries of demand destruction persist. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 1.8% early Thursday to $87.97 per barrel, while Brent futures held near $96.53.
The moves in crude oil futures come after the commodity logged its third straight monthly decline – the longest losing streak in more than two years. WTI crude sank more than 9% in August, its biggest monthly decline since November.
On Thursday morning before the bell, investors will get a reading on weekly jobless claims. Economists estimate filings for first-time unemployment insurance rose to 248,000 in the week ended August 27.
The main event of the week is the Labor Department’s official report for August, set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday morning. Nonfarm payrolls likely rose by 300,000 in August, according to data from Bloomberg.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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