Stock futures dropped against a major backdrop of widespread unrest in some of the US' bustling cities, many of which had already been hounded with difficulties to get back on track -- economically and emotionally -- as a global health crisis continues to challenge the world's resilience.
The demonstrations, most of which turned violent, centered on the masses' anger over the death of a black man - George Floyd - who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis last week in one of the latest public incidences of the authorities' use of excessive force against an unarmed person.
The indirect effect on the sensitive collective psyche of consumers and businesses could be a lot more serious, Mark Zandi, head economist of Moody's Analytics, told Market Watch.
"Just when people were beginning to come out of their proverbial bunkers, the protests may be too much for them, and they will go back in," Zandi speculated, in reference to the reluctance of consumers to go out shopping amid the ongoing pandemic.
US stocks were mostly down, while equities in most of Asia were generally mixed during early morning sessions on Monday, as traders evaluated the violent rallies in some US states that have fanned worries about a re-boost in the rates of coronavirus infections and deal a heavy blow on economic recovery.
In currencies, the Japanese yen and gold were slightly up. S&P 500 futures declined and stocks in Sydney and Tokyo were unchanged. With Amazon reducing its volume of deliveries and Apple shutting some branches on Sunday, investors are monitoring how the unrest over the weekend will impact the reopening of the globe's biggest economy.
In commodities, prices of crude dropped, as Chinese markets are expected be weigh in on US President Donald Trump's latest volley of criticisms against China. Trump's actions versus China were seen as less confrontational than had been expected.
Trump on Friday disclosed a series of actions to censure Beijing's new security law on Hong Kong, including measures to withdraw financial aid to the World Health Organization, but the president fell short of pulling back from a Phase 1 trade deal or carrying out new sanctions directly against China.
A number of other top executives - including BlackRock chief executive officer Larry Fink, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon - also disclosed public statements on the demonstrations and the events that triggered them.
These developments is concurrent with an unprecedented slowdown in the US economy, resulting to tens of millions of Americans unemployed as the pandemic and the ongoing efforts to quell it shook the nation and the world.
