Stock Futures Drop on North Korea Tensions

U.S. equity index futures fell at the open on Sunday, with stock traders being cautious after news that North Korea had raised diplomatic tensions by conducting what it claimed was a test of a hydrogen bomb for a long-range missile.

On Sunday, Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, in what appears to be a tense escalation of North Korea's stand-off with the United States and its allies.

S&P 500 e-mini futures dropped 0.36 percent as electronic trading resumed on Sunday evening. The decline revealed that traders are cautious but not completely threatened by news on North Korea. Volumes were higher than average, as 30,2000 contracts changed hands.

The 10-year Treasury futures were 0.16 percent higher on the day.

“Traders have been burned by overreacting to the news out of North Korea multiple times over the last month – most recently after missiles were shot over Japanese territory,” according to Nicholas Young, a partner at Conventus Capital LLC in New York. “Unless we get a real response from the U.S., the market seems desensitized to these items.”

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