U.S. Tech Stocks Rebound as Global Bond Rout Eases: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. tech stocks staged a modest rebounded on the last day of a tumultuous week as a global bond rout eased, sending the yield on 10-year Treasuries tumbling below 1.5%.

Gains for Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. helped lift the Nasdaq 100 about 0.6%. Energy producers and banks were among the worst performers, dragging down the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The dollar jumped for a second day, helping fuel a slump in commodities from oil to gold to copper.

Asian shares tumbled in line with Thursday’s rout in the U.S., and European gauges also closed lower. Global bonds stabilized after central banks from Asia to Europe moved to calm a panic that had sent U.S. government bond yields to their highest level in a year and spurred a selloff in stock markets.

Investors are getting increasingly worried that accelerating inflation could trigger a pullback in monetary policy support that has fueled gains in risk assets amid the pandemic. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says higher Treasury yields reflect optimism on the outlook for growth and officials have stressed that the central bank has no plans to tighten policy given lingering weakness in the labor market.

“Higher rates will create a situation where investors will not accept the kind of sky-high valuations that they’ve been willing to accept in recent years,” wrote Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “Although what Chairman Powell said this week was bullish for the economy, it was not particularly bullish for the stock market.”

The Nasdaq 100 pared its weekly loss to about 5%, still the worst since October, amid concern that valuations for tech stocks that soared during the pandemic have gotten out of hand.

Elsewhere, copper slid the most in four months, falling from a nine-year high. Gold fell to the lowest since June.

Emerging-market stocks posted the worst weekly loss in almost a year. Bitcoin fell below $47,000.

These are some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index fell 0.5% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
• The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 1.6%.
• The MSCI Asia Pacific index declined 3.7%.
• The MSCI Emerging Markets index retreated 3.2%.

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%.
• The euro was 0.8% lower at $1.2075.
• The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.3935.
• The Japanese yen slipped 0.4% to 106.58 per dollar.

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries tumbled 10 basis point to 1.42%.
• Germany’s 10-year yield dropped three basis points to -0.26%.
• The yield on U.K. 10-year bonds rose four basis points to 0.82%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.8% to $61.73 a barrel.
• Gold fell 2.2% to $1,732.10 an ounce.

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