Wall Street’s main indexes were set to open lower as protests in major Chinese cities against strict COVID-19 policies reignited concerns about economic growth, while Apple slipped on a report of disruption in production at a factory in China.
As China’s strict zero-COVID policy aimed at stamping out COVID-19 with lockdowns and quarantines has become a lightning rod for frustrations, protests erupted over the weekend as a show of solidarity with rare displays of defiance.
Although there were no signs of new protests in Beijing or Shanghai on Monday, the curbs so far have led to concerns over China’s economic growth and its trickle-down effect on global companies.
“Chinese citizens … have seen the rest of the world reopen and move back towards something close to pre-COVID like economies, but for China that hasn’t happened,” said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
Apple Inc fell 2.2% in premarket trading after a report said the company will see a production shortfall of nearly 6 million iPhone Pro units due to unrest at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant.
Other megacap technology and growth stocks such as Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Nvidia Corp, Netflix Inc and Tesla Inc fell between 0.8% and 2.0%.
At 8:22 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 216 points, or 0.63%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 33.75 points, or 0.84%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 99 points, or 0.84%.
Shares of e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc edged 0.2% higher following a report that said spending on Cyber Monday, the biggest U.S. online shopping day, was set to hit a record $11.2 billion.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies such as Bilibili Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, JD.com Inc, Baidu Inc and Nio Inc lost between 0.8% and 1.7%.
On Friday, the Nasdaq closed lower, weighed down by Apple in a subdued holiday-shortened trading session for Wall Street.
Among other major movers on Monday, MGM Resorts International, Las Vegas Sands Corp and Wynn Resorts Ltd rose between 2.1% and 5.1% after the Macau government said over the weekend that its six incumbent casino operators would be given new licenses to operate in the world’s biggest gambling hub from January.
For the week, investors will keep a close watch on nonfarm payrolls for November, the second estimate for third-quarter gross domestic product and consumer confidence this month.
