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 U.S. stock-market index and oil futures Thursday night were seeing muted moves amid news that the Biden administration had launched airstrikes in Syria, targeting facilities near the Iraqi border used by Iranian-backed militia groups. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down less than 0.1% at 31,364, those for the S&P 500 index were also off less than 0.1% at 3,827.75, while Nasdaq-100 futures were down 0.4% at 12,787.50. The strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member and other coalition troops, according to the Pentagon, the Associated Press reported. U.S. crude-oil futures were off 0.7% at $63.04 a barrel and global benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.9% lower at $65.59 a barrel on Globex. Equity markets on Thursday ended sharply lower amid a rapid rise in bond yields, with the 10-year Treasury note touching around 1.6%, undercutting appetite for assets percieved as risky like stocks against risk-free government debt. On Thursday, the Dow booked its steepest one-day slide since Jan. 29, the S&P 500 index closed down 2.5% to mark the biggest daily slump in three weeks and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended the session off 3.5% to mark its worst day since October.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Pfizer Inc. said late Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is allowing the company "more flexible" storage and transportation conditions for its and BioNTech's [s:bntx] COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA will allow undiluted, frozen vials of the vaccine to be transported and stored at temperatures commonly found in pharmaceutical freezers for a period of up to two weeks, the company said. That's an alternative constrasting with the "preferred" storage of the undiluted vials in ultra-low temperature freezers. "This alternative temperature for transportation and storage of the undiluted vials is significant and allows the vials to be transported and stored under more flexible conditions. The alternative temperature for transportation and storage will help ease the burden of procuring ultra-low cold storage equipment for vaccination sites and should help to get vaccine to more sites," the FDA said in the statement. Shares of Pfizer lost 0.4% in the extended session Thursday after ending the regular trading day up 0.2%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. said Thursday it has named Doug Ahrens chief financial officer, replacing Jon Campagna, who is stepping down after the company's move from the private market to the public one. Ahrens was most recently CEO of Mellanox, a semiconductor company, and has done stints at GlobalLogic, Maxim Integrated Products, Intel Corp. and Chevron Corp. Shares of the space travel company were down 1.8% premarket, but have gained 35% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 22%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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 Investors are taking another run at GameStop Corp. and other 'meme' stocks by aggressively buying out-of-the-money call options. Here's how it works.
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Farfetch Ltd. FTCH shares fell in the extended session Thursday as the luxury retailer reported quarterly earnings following a huge run-up in share price from a year ago. Farfetch shares dropped 10% after hours, following a 4.2% decline to close the regular session at $63.81. Farfetch shares have soared more than 500% over the past 12 months. The company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.28 billion, or $6.53 a share, compared with a loss of $110.1 million, or 34 cents a share in the year-ago period. Excluding a $1.89 billion loss on "embedded derivate liabilities" because of the company's increase in share price and other items, the company reported an adjusted loss of 6 cents compared with a loss of 8 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose to $540.1 million from $382.2 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by Factset had expected an adjusted loss of 13 cents a share on revenue of $518.1 million.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
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Stock-market benchmarks finished sharply lower Thursday, with rising yields putting further pressure on once-highflying tech stocks.
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