US Stock Market Futures: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Fall, Point To Monday Opening Drop

Even the news remdesivir received emergency use approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 1 didn't prevent Wall Street's major indices from closing out the first trading day of the new month sharply lower.

Remdesivir triggered a huge rally April 29 on news Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, saying it shows a “clear-cut” positive effect when treating patients seriously ill from the coronavirus. Its magic didn't work last Friday, however.

Stocks began May in the red and are expected to stay there Monday when trading resumes. Stock futures fell Sunday night as traders have to contend with the somewhat positive news more than half the states have partially reopened for business. Set against this welcome development is news president Donald Trump is preparing to reignite his trade war against China by either imposing new tariffs or reneging on U.S. debt payments to China.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 152 points, hinting at a Monday opening decline of 147 points. S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 futures also pointed to losses at Monday's open. These losses are set to continue Friday's bad start to the month when the Dow plummeted 617 points, with the S&P 500 losing 2.79% and NASDAQ Composite yielding 3.2%.

Friday's fall followed the biggest monthly gain for stocks in more than 30 years in April. Analysts described April as the biggest monthly gain for stocks in over 30 years. The motive force for this resurgence were hopes of reopening the shutdown U.S. economy sooner than expected. Thirty-two states had announced plans to either open or ease social distancing rules by the end of last week.

As a consequence, April posted the third largest monthly gain for the S&P 500 since World War II. The Dow Jones recorded its fourth largest post-war monthly rally and its best month in 33 years. The S&P 500 rose 12.7% in April while the Dow rose 11%. The NASDAQ closed 15.5% higher in April, its biggest one-month gain since June 2000.

The broader annual picture isn't as pretty, however. The Dow is down 16.87% until April 30 and is on pace for its worst year since 2008. The same can be said for the S&P 500, which is down 12.38%, and is also on track for its worst year since 2008. The NASADAQ is 12.54% lower than its intraday all-time high of 9,838.37 posted February 19.