5 things to know before the stock market opens Thursday

Here are the most important news, trends and analysis that investors need to start their trading day:

Dow futures on Thursday fell nearly 500 points, or more than 1.3%, in a broad premarket decline as Japan declared a state of emergency in Tokyo for the upcoming Summer Olympics and as countries deal with a rebound in Covid cases due to variants. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also dropped about 1.3% each.

Investors rotated into the perceived safety of bonds Thursday, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield below 1.26% to the lowest since late February. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Just two weeks before the Tokyo Olympics, Japan’s prime minister on Thursday announced the state of emergency for the capital city due to rising Covid infections. The order goes into effect this coming Monday and through Aug. 22. That means the Olympics, opening on July 23 and running through Aug. 8, will be held entirely under emergency measures. While fans from abroad were banned months ago, Olympics officials had recently set venue limits at 50% capacity for local spectators. However, the state of emergency could force another change in the fan policy.

The global death toll from Covid exceeded 4 million late Wednesday as infections worldwide crossed 185 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. In recent months, many countries are battling a surge in Covid infections due to the spread of the more transmissible delta variant, which first emerged in India. The delta strain now accounts for more than half of new Covid cases in the U.S. The World Health Organization has said that delta is the “fastest and fittest” variant yet, and health experts have warned it could undermine efforts to contain Covid even as vaccination campaigns are underway around the globe.

State attorneys general are again going after Google with an antitrust lawsuit, this time alleging the Alphabet unit abused its power over app developers through its Play Store on Android. The case marks the fourth antitrust lawsuit lodged against the company by U.S. government enforcers in the past year. By focusing on the Play Store, the latest lawsuit touches on an aspect of Google’s business that is most similar to Apple’s App Store. The App Store has become embattled in legal challenges and drawn lawmaker questions over whether it unfairly charges developers for payments through their apps by customers and whether it favors its own apps over those of its rivals.