Major US stock indices have predominantly declined amid growing fears of a slowdown in global growth after a new turn in Sino-US relations.

Today it became known that the Canadian authorities detained the financial director of the Chinese company Huawei Technologies Meng Wangzhou at the request of the United States. It is noted that it is suspected of violating US trade sanctions against Iran. Ms. Maine is awaiting extradition to the United States. Against this background, the hopes of market participants that Washington and Beijing will find a compromise on controversial issues that have grown strongly since the meeting of the leaders of the two countries have significantly weakened.

In addition, as it became known, the initial applications for unemployment benefits in the United States fell less than expected last week, which ended on December 1, the report of the Ministry of Labor said. The report says that initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to 231,000, which is 4,000 less than the revised level of the previous week (235,000). Economists had expected the number of hits to fall to 225,000 from the 234,000 originally reported in the previous week.

Meanwhile, the index of business activity in the US services sector, calculated by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), rose in November to 60.7 points compared to 60.3 points in October. Analysts predicted that the index will fall to 59.2 points.

Oil futures lost more than 2% on Thursday after OPEC concluded a key meeting without deciding on the level of crude oil production, as it was preparing to discuss this issue with other exporters the next day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) held a meeting in Vienna to determine its policy in coordination with non-OPEC producers, including Russia, Oman and Kazakhstan. The OPEC delegate said that the organization had agreed on a preliminary deal to reduce oil production, but had not yet agreed on the final figure.

Most of the DOW components showed a fall (17 of 30). Outsiders were The Boeing Company (BA, -3.21%). The leader of growth were shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO, + 2.07%).

Most sectors of the S & P finished trading in the red. The commodity sector fell the most (-2.1%). The growth leader was the technology sector (+ 0.3%).

U.S. stock-index futures tumbled on Thursday, as investors resumed sell-off in stocks, following the reports about arrest of Huawei Technologies' CFO, which re-ignited concerns about U.S.-China tensions.

Global Stocks:

Wall Street. Stocks before the bell

(company / ticker / price / change ($/%) / volume)

Initiations before the market open

Facebook (FB) initiated with a Neutral at Guggenheim; target $150

Alphabet A (GOOGL) initiated with a Buy at Guggenheim; target $1330

Twitter (TWTR) initiated with a Buy at Guggenheim; target $39

Downgrades before the market open

Facebook (FB) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel

Kroger Co (KR) reported Q3 FY 2018 earnings of $0.48 per share (versus $0.44 in Q3 FY 2017), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.43.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $27.672 bln (-0.3% y/y), generally in line with analysts’ consensus estimate of $27.640 bln.

KR fell to $28.35 (-1.01%) in pre-market trading.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) reported Q4 FY 2018 earnings of $0.45 per share (versus $0.29 in Q4 FY 2017), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.43.

The company’s quarterly revenues amounted to $7.946 bln (+3.7% y/y), beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $7.842 bln.

HPE fell to $14.60 (-2.99%) in pre-market trading.