Market Snapshot: Stock futures signal tech bounce as Treasury yields pull back

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Stock-index futures rose Tuesday as a spike in Treasury yields relented, with the Nasdaq-100 contract pointing to a sharply higher start a day after the index and the broader Nasdaq Composite fell into correction territory even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly pushed above the 32,000 milestone.

What are major indexes doing?
  • Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, +0.34% were up 154 points, or 0.5%, at 31,930.
  • S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.86% advanced 38.70 points, or 1%, to 3,858.
  • Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, +2.01% jumped 270.25 points, or 2.2%, to 12,567.50.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.97% ended with a gain of 306.14 points, or 1%, at 31,802.44 after rising more than 650 points earlier in the session to hit an intraday record. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.54% finished with a loss of 0.5%. And the Nasdaq COMP, -2.41% slumped 2.4% to end at 12,609.16, leaving it 10.5% off its record close from Feb. 12. The Nasdaq’s slide meets the definition of a correction, which is a fall of 10% from a recent peak.

What’s driving the market?

Treasury yields have been calling the tune, with their rise fueling a rotation away from growth-oriented stocks, including many of the high-flying tech-related shares that boomed during the pandemic-inspired lockdowns. Investors have been using the proceeds to pile into shares of more cyclical and value-oriented stocks and sectors that are seen as poised to benefit most from a wider reopening of the economy.

“Now that investors can get a better return on safe assets like bonds, taking a massive risk in tech names with sky-high valuations is not as attractive,” said Marios Hadjikyriacos, investment analyst at XM, in a note.

“Hence, most of the tech sector got scorched yesterday while beaten-down value names came back to life,” he said.

That dynamic was on hold amid a lack of other major catalysts on Tuesday, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.538% off around 7 basis points at 1.531%

The National Federation of Independent Business said its closely followed optimism index edged up to 95.8 last month from 95 in January.

Which companies are in focus?
What are other markets doing?
  • The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, -0.25%, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was down 0.3% after hitting a more-than-three-month high on Monday.
  • Oil futures were on the rise, with the U.S. benchmark CL.1, +0.48% up 0.7% at $65.51 a barrel.
  • Gold futures GC00, +1.44% were buoyed as Treasury yields and the dollar retreated, bouncing 1.5% to $1,703.80 an ounce.
  • The pan-European Stoxx 600 SXXP, +0.48% and London’s FTSE 100 UKX, +0.34% each rose by 0.6%.
  • In Asia, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, -1.82% stumbled 1.8% , while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.81% rose 0.8% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, +0.99% rallied 1%.