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Business

Dow futures drop 270 points, building on losses after worst week since October

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U.S. stock index futures declined in overnight trading as a surge in speculative trading by retail traders continued to cause hedge funds to take off risk and worried investors about a market bubble. The losses build on last week’s decline, which was the worst for the market since October.

Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 270 points, indicating a 271-point loss at the opening bell. S&P 500 futures slipped 1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.2%.

The Dow dropped 620 points on Friday, or 2%, to close below the 30,000 level for the first time since December. The Nasdaq Composite also slipped 2%, while the S&P 500 fell 1.9%.

For the week, all three major averages slipped more than 3% for their worst weekly performance since October. The Dow and S&P also posted losses for January — the first negative month in four — although the Nasdaq did manage to post a gain for the month.

Friday’s dip came amid a frenzy of activity by retail investors in heavily-shorted stocks including GameStop and AMC Entertainment, which fueled concerns about the overall health of the market. Goldman Sachs noted that the current short squeeze is the worst in 25 years.

“This week’s events may have turned markets on their heads, but fear indicators imply that we may have seen the worst of the degrossing,” Jefferies wrote in a note to clients over the weekend. Barclays added that it’s unlikely that the impact of the short squeezes will ripple through the broader market.

“The ongoing short squeeze in a few stocks by retail investors has raised concerns of a broader contagion,” the firm wrote in a recent note to clients. “While we believe there is more pain to come we remain optimistic that it is likely to remain localized.”

Meanwhile, a group of 10 Republican senators sent President Joe Biden a letter on Sunday, urging him to consider a smaller, scaled down Covid-19 relief proposal. His current plans calls for $1.9 trillion in additional fiscal stimulus. The alternative proposal comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber will move to pass a budget resolution, the first step toward approving legislation through reconciliation. The process would enable Senate Democrats to approve an aid measure without GOP votes.

Elsewhere, another busy week of earnings is coming up with 99 S&P companies set to report. Alphabet, Amazon, Alibaba, Snap, Exxon, Biogen, Pfizer and Chipotle are among the names set to report this coming week. Thursday is the busiest day of the earnings season.

“We believe the medium-term path for the market remains higher,” noted Mark Haefele, global CIO at UBS Wealth Management. “In a similar pattern to the previous two quarters, corporate earnings for 4Q20 are exceeding expectations by a significant margin.”

He added that a stimulus package as well as investors looking beyond delays to vaccine production and distribution should further boost stocks.

– CNBC’s Jacob Pramuk contributed reporting.

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Sports

Brooklyn Nets score 147 to tie franchise record for points in regulation game

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OKLAHOMA CITY — Even with the NBA’s second-leading scorer sitting out, the Brooklyn Nets matched a franchise record Friday for the most points in a regulation game, dropping 147 on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a 22-point win.

“We’re getting there. … We’re slowly inching forward on both ends of the floor,” coach Steve Nash said. “We struggled defensively at times, but we’re getting more solid with our game plan defensively. Offensively, you’re starting to see a little more flow. You’re seeing James [Harden] able to manage the game like that and manipulate the defense.”

By quarter, the Nets scored 36, 40, 39 and 32, building an early lead and consistently scoring throughout the game. They shot 57% from the field, hit 19 3-pointers and had 33 team assists.

With Kevin Durant sitting as part of a resting plan as he continues to work back from his Achilles injury, Kyrie Irving and Harden took the reins, combining for 50 points — 25 apiece.

“We’re catching a rhythm, obviously, offensively,” Harden said. “But defensively as well. We’re learning our strengths and our weakness and things we can get better at.”

The Nets’ offensive explosion has been steadily building, with 10 of their past 11 games featuring at least 110 points. But they’ve also been, to put it kindly, mediocre on the defensive end. The Thunder, who entered the game last in offensive efficiency, still put up 125 points while shooting 46.5% from the floor.

“There’s a familiarity growing, on both ends of the floor. [But] we’ve got a long way to go defensively,” Nash said. “It’s not our forte or strong suit, but we’ve got to be clean with our game plan and talking and participating in our actions.”

Harden and Irving spent various parts of the game orchestrating solo as Nash staggered their minutes. But there were also long stretches in which they played off one another, with Harden doing his usual isolation drive-and-kick thing, while Irving flashed his finishing ability in the paint.

“I’m always gonna say I won’t take any day for granted. This doesn’t happen often in history where you have this group together at this point,” Irving said. “Some of the guys were starters on their respective teams last year; some of the guys are MVP candidates. And to have all of that collective talent and not get the most of it, we’d be doing ourselves a disservice. So we just want to continue to push each other and hold each other accountable.”

Harden credited the overall communication improving among the group, with assignments, coverages and adjustments being called out clearly throughout the game. Irving and Harden were at the front of the scoring, but there was impressive balance to the game as well, with nine players total finishing in double figures.

“It’s very satisfying anytime you get a win, but anytime the whole team plays well and you do some great things as a collective group, it definitely stands out of the rest,” Irving said.

The Nets have won four straight and are 6-2 since making the trade for Harden. There have been some rough spots at times, with Harden going extended stretches less involved in the offense, or Irving’s efficiency dipping, but the chemistry has been building, Nash said, and is something he only expects to improve.

“Offensively, I think guys are getting a feel and a rhythm for one another, how guys like to play, where they like the ball, how they like to move, cut and play off each other,” he said.

Harden said the Nets are maintaining an eye on the process, noting that it’s only going to get harder as the season progresses. As the games get bigger and the season gets smaller, there will be more of a spotlight on the Nets’ chemistry and how they execute.

“We’re gonna be challenged every night; we’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” Irving said, “but what we’re doing now is just finding the continuity to utilize the strengths we have.”

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Sports

‘Home cooking,’ Cavaliers exec’s chirping fuel LeBron James’ season-high 46 points in Ohio return

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It had been more than two years since LeBron James played a game in Cleveland, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Los Angeles Lakers star certainly made up for lost time on Monday, turning in perhaps his greatest performance against his former team.

James scored a season-high 46 points in the Lakers’ 115-108 win over the Cavaliers, extending L.A.’s road winning streak to 10-0 to start the season, a franchise record, and he did it in style back in his home state of Ohio.

“Home cooking,” he said afterward on a videoconference with reporters. “It just felt good to be back in my haven, my rest haven, and that’s being home.”

For much of the trip, it was all warm and fuzzy feelings for the 18-year veteran. He spent time with his mother and uncle. He greeted former teammate Cedi Osman with a big hug during warm-ups, skirting the league’s health and safety protocols to show some love. He shouted out longtime Cavs employee Mark “Cobra” Cashman, dubbing him “the greatest equipment guy in the world.”

But heading into the fourth quarter trailing the Cavs 89-87 after he missed a turnaround shot at the buzzer that would have tied things up, James found a reason to quit the nice-guy routine and bury his former team.

After his 14-footer over Taurean Prince bounced twice on the rim and out, James noticed Jason Hillman, the Cavs’ basketball chief of staff, sitting in a group by the baseline with the rest of the Cavs’ front office and clapping to celebrate the errant shot, sources told ESPN.

“I felt like he was just a little bit too excited about seeing me miss,” James said afterward, declining to name Hillman when asked who caught his attention. “He was really excited about me missing that shot. A little bit more extra than I would have liked. But he’s got to root for his team, obviously. And he was, he showcased that.

“So I knew I had another quarter, and the fourth quarter’s my favorite.”

And what a fourth quarter it was. James single-handedly outscored his opponent — the team he once helped deliver its lone championship in 2016, mind you — 21-19 in the fourth to push the Lakers past a plucky Cavs squad that beat the Brooklyn Nets twice on their home floor just last week.

After the carnage was over, with James going 9-for-10 from the field, hitting a 3 from the Cleveland “C” logo at center court and a couple more daggers from the outside while adding two assists, two steals and two blocks, all his former team could do was acknowledge James’ greatness.

“Doesn’t take much to get Bron going,” one Cavs source told ESPN of the brief exchange James had with Hillman, with the four-time MVP shooting an icy stare in Hillman’s direction before making his way to the Lakers’ bench. “He was unreal tonight.”

Added Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff, “You take your hat off to him. There’s a reason why he is who he is and he’s accomplished all the things that he’s accomplished. If he’s making shots like that you pat him on the butt.”

It was the most points James has ever scored against Cleveland as he ran his career record to 15-1 in games played against the team he suited up for over 11 seasons. And he was as accurate as he has ever been by one measure — his 73.1% from the field on 19-for-26 shooting was tied for the best he has ever shot out of the 240 career games in which he attempted at least 25 shots (regular season and playoffs combined). The only other time he went 19-for-26? Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference finals in Boston, which many point to as the most important win of his career.

James, at 36 years and 26 days old, became the oldest Lakers player with a 40-point game since Kobe Bryant scored 60 at the age of 37 years, 234 days old in the final game of his career.

“I’ve just never put a ceiling on my potential,” James said. “I always wanted to continue to get better and better and better to a point where I also now can dictate [what] the defense can do. And the defense can’t dictate what I’m supposed to do.”

James finished 7-for-11 from 3, upping his shooting mark to 41.2% from the outside this season, which would be the best percentage of his career should he keep it up.

“The shot-making,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said, “was just ridiculous, and just one of those nights for the ages for him.”

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