Weakening FANG stocks stir overnight volatility in US equity futures

Bloomberg

A steady weakening in US equity futures snowballed into one of the biggest drops in a month for Nasdaq 100 contracts, as pre-market trading revealed losses of around 1.5 percent in Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Alphabet and Amazon.com.
Facebook was in the spotlight as government officials in the US and Europe were demanding answers from the company after reports that Cambridge Analytica, the advertising-data firm that helped Donald Trump win the US presidency, retained information on tens of millions of Facebook users without their consent. Apple suppliers including Samsung and LG Display fell in Asia as the iPhonemaker was said to be producing its own displays for the first time.
“The newsflow on Facebook has sparked a risk-off move on the tech sector, coupled with worries over Apple suppliers,” Andrea Tueni, head of sales trading at Saxo Banque France, said by phone. “And all this happens on a week where we have a crucial Fed meeting, so people are tempted to move to the sidelines.”
While global stocks have bounced back from their February lows, the backdrop for equities remains far from placid.
Investor anxiety, effectively nonexistent for two years as central banks flooded markets with liquidity, sits about 70 percent above its levels in January, going by the Cboe Volatility Index.
Corporate credit is also showing cracks, with an exchange-traded fund tracking US junk bonds down in seven of the last
10 weeks.