US stocks retreat from ATHs, Facebook (FB Stock) under scrutiny

US equities retreated from record highs amid no progress in stimulus talks. The general bearishness was also fueled by the antitrust lawsuit filed against Facebook. Nasdaq was the worst performer of the three benchmark indexes, losing 1.94%. The S&P 500 fell 0.79%, and the Dow dropped by 0.35%.

The House of Representatives green-lighted the one-week funding for the federal government. The move is meant to give more time to lawmakers to reach consensus on a broader relief package. However, there are no signals of a major breakthrough.

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Facebook fell over 2% after the US Federal Trade Commission and most of the US states filed antitrust lawsuits against the social media giant. The company might be forced to sell Instagram and WhatsApp, among others. The news didn’t bode well for other tech giants, such as Google’s Alphabet, which also fell about 2%. Google itself has been put under scrutiny in October by the US Justice Department with similar accusations of using market power to discourage competitors.

Rental marketplace provider Airbnb priced its stock at $68 at the IPO debut on Wednesday, higher than its range that had been already lifted earlier this week. The company raised about $3.5 billion, with a total valuation at $47 billion. This is the largest IPO so far this year. The stock of Airbnb will be listed later today on Nasdaq with the ticker ABNB.

Elsewhere, General Electric agreed to pay a huge penalty of $200 million, according to the US SEC. The company was charged with misleading investors over the way it was making money in its power and insurance businesses.

In Asia, stocks are mostly bearish on Thursday, following the downbeat mood in the US.

At the time of writing, China’s Shanghai Composite is up 0.09% but departing from session highs, while the Shenzhen Component has gained 0.20%. Yesterday, China reported inflation data that pointed to a slowdown in economic recovery, as the CPI fell last month by 0.6% from October and 0.5% in annual terms. The producer price index contracted 1.5% year-on-year.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index has lost 0.50% amid more severe restriction measures. Starting from Thursday, gyms and beauty parlors are closed, while restaurants are not providing dine-in services after 6 PM.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.23% lower. SoftBank Group shares jumped over 14% to two-decade highs as the company secured an $11.2 billion gain from its stake in DoorDash, after the US food delivery app provider made its debut in the US stock market by raising $3.4 billion. SoftBank has invested $680 million in DoorDash in the last three years, having a 25% stake. DoorDash shares surged over 87% in their first day of trading on Wednesday, valuing the company at $68.4 billion. This is more than four times its valuation during a fundraising round in June.

South Korea’s KOSPI is down 0.32%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 closed 0.67% lower.

European stocks will open lower, with DAX and CAC futures flashing red. The European Central Bank will announce another series of stimulus measures later today to support an economy hit by the pandemic.

In the commodity market, oil prices are bullish on Thursday but moving sideways on larger timeframes. The crude is leveraging investor hopes that the rollout of COVID vaccines would push economic recovery. The US is expected to approve the first vaccine candidate later this week. WTI is up 0.33%, and Brent has gained 0.20%. The intraday rally is capped by a huge build in oil inventories for last week, as reported by the Energy Information Administration, while analysts expected a draw.

Gold is increasing slightly amid the general uncertainty surrounding the US stimulus. The UK reported at least two cases of anaphylaxis that came after the injection of the vaccine developed by Pfizer, which had been approved a few days ago. The UK health regulator warned that those with a history of anaphylaxis shouldn’t get the vaccine. Gold futures are up 0.05% to $1.839.

In FX, the US dollar is moving sideways but under pressure, with the USD Index trading at 91.062. EUR/USD is up 0.07% to 1.2090.

The sterling has tumbled over 0.30% against the greenback and 0.45% versus the euro after the face-to-face meeting between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen didn’t narrow the gaps in the Brexit talks. The two decided the next final deadline to be this Sunday.