NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks were poised to open significantly lower Monday following the House vote to approve health care reform.
Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were down ahead of the opening bell.
Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.
Late Sunday, the House approved a $940 billion health care reform package that will, among other things, require all Americans to have insurance and prevent insurers from denying coverage based on gender or pre-existing conditions. President Obama will sign the measure, which was passed in December by the Senate, into law.
"The health care legislation is a big anchor today," said Derek Hoffman, chief executive and founder of Wall St. Cheat Sheet. "Investors are in the process of determining how the reforms will unfold and impact Wall Street."
Shares of health insurers Cigna (CI, Fortune 500), Aetna (AET, Fortune 500), MetLife (MET, Fortune 500), Humana (HUM, Fortune 500), UnitedHealth (UNH, Fortune 500), and WellPoint (WLP, Fortune 500) were all slightly lower in pre-market trading.
But other factors could weigh on stocks besides health care, including the ongoing concern about Greek debt, following reports that Germany may not support European Union efforts to help resolve the crisis.
Stocks snapped an eight-session winning streak Friday as a strong dollar dragged on commodity prices, giving investors a reason to step back from the recent run up. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite had soared to 18-month highs in the previous session.
Economy: In the late afternoon, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on a financial reform bill proposed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
Companies. Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is reportedly close to revealing plans to end some of its operations in China as early as Monday.
Following a cyber attack on Gmail accounts that was launched in China, Google announced in January that it was no longer willing to operate its Chinese search engine, google.cn, under Chinese censorship laws. The company has been negotiating with the Chinese government to find a solution.
World markets: Asian stocks ended mostly lower. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped more than 2%. Japanese markets were closed.
In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX were lower in early trading.
The dollar and commodities: The dollar gained against the euro, the pound, and the yen.
Crude oil for April delivery dropped $1.15 to $79.53 a barrel, and the price of gold for April delivery fell $4.40 an ounce to $1,103.20.
Treasurys: The price of the benchmark 10-year note rose, lowering the yield to 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
---|---|---|---|
30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.88% | |
15 yr fixed | 3.20% | 3.23% | |
5/1 ARM | 3.84% | 3.88% | |
30 yr refi | 3.82% | 3.93% | |
15 yr refi | 3.20% | 3.23% |
Today's featured rates:
Index | Last | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Dow | 32,627.97 | -234.33 | -0.71% |
Nasdaq | 13,215.24 | 99.07 | 0.76% |
S&P 500 | 3,913.10 | -2.36 | -0.06% |
Treasuries | 1.73 | 0.00 | 0.12% |
Company | Price | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Ford Motor Co | 8.29 | 0.05 | 0.61% |
Advanced Micro Devic... | 54.59 | 0.70 | 1.30% |
Cisco Systems Inc | 47.49 | -2.44 | -4.89% |
General Electric Co | 13.00 | -0.16 | -1.22% |
Kraft Heinz Co | 27.84 | -2.20 | -7.32% |
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