Coffee With Greta: Unrest In China Spooks Wall Street
DJIA Futures: -195 (-0.6%)
SPX Futures: -30 (-0.7%)
NASDAQ Futures: -77 (-0.7%)
Good morning friends!
Futures are falling as protests against Covid restrictions in China weigh on global markets.
Let’s get right to it!
Protests Erupt Across China
Futures are falling as protests break out in China against the country’s Covid controls.
Citizens have taken to the streets of Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Lanzhou.
The unrest reportedly began in Xinjiang after a building fire killed 10 people and residents reportedly blamed Covid restrictions for preventing lives from being saved.
Local authorities quickly declared the Covid risk had subsided afterward and lifted restrictions.
China operates under a zero-Covid policy and has enacted strict lockdowns during any new outbreaks.
Oil Prices Tumble To New 2022 Low
Oil prices are tumbling today amid the unrest in China.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures are down 2.7% to just over $74 bbl while Brent crude futures are down 3% to just over $81 bbl.
WTI hit the lowest level since December 22, 2021 earlier in the session at $73.60 bbl.
Both contracts have erased their gains for the year as the protests in China prompt more worries about demand.
The falling oil prices are dragging down energy stocks in premarket trade with Exxon Mobil (XOM) dropping 2.2% and Chevron (CVX) falling 1.6%.
Apple Faces Production Issues From China Factory Protests
Apple (AAPL) shares are slipping 2.2% ahead of the open as reports say the tech giant is facing a production shortfall due to factory protests in China.
Bloomberg reported the company may fall short of its iPhone 14 Pro production target by nearly 6 million units worldwide.
Workers at the Foxconn manufacturing plant in Zhengzhou are among those protesting against Covid restrictions.
But the Bloomberg report said Foxconn may be able to make up for that shortfall.
Apple already cut its production target for the iPhone 14 by 3 million units earlier this month due to protests at the facility.
Online Black Friday Sales Hit Record
Shoppers spent a record $9.12 billion online shopping on Black Friday this year.
That’s according to new data from Adobe Analytics which said online sales surged 221% over an average day in October.
Toy sales were up 285% compared to normal shopping while exercise equipment sales jumped 218%.
Overall Black Friday online sales were up 2.3% year over year.
The surge came ahead of Cyber Monday today, which is the biggest online shopping day of the year.
Adobe Analytics expects shoppers to spend $11.2 billion online today, which would be up 5.1% year over year.