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Stock-index futures traded mostly higher in choppy price action Friday after rising Treasury yields sparked a tech-led selloff that left the Nasdaq Composite with its biggest one-day loss since October.
What are major indexes doing?
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.21% fell 58 points, or 0.2%, to 31,313.
- S&P 500 futures ES00, +0.07% were up 3 points, or 0.1%, at 3,831.
- Nasdaq-100 futures were up 25.25 points, or 0.2%, at 12,857.
On Thursday, the Dow DJIA, -1.75% tumbled just shy of 560 points, or 1.8%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -2.45% dropped 2.4%, leaving both indexes were the biggest one-day decline since late January. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.52% dropped 3.5%, for its biggest one-day drop since October.
What’s driving the market?
An acceleration in the Treasury market selloff Thursday sent yields, which move in the opposite direction of bond prices, up sharply, triggering a stock market selloff that hit tech-related stocks particularly hard.
“There was a flash spike in the 10-year yield and that upset the apple cart, as higher yields are spooking the stock market,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. “Could there be more inflation coming than what most think? Although the Fed isn’t worried about that, the market might be.”
Read: 3 reasons the rise in bond yields is gaining steam and rattling the stock market
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.478% rose 13 basis points Thursday to finish at a more-than-one-year high at 1.51%. Yields pulled back Friday morning, with the 10-year rate down 4.7 basis points at 1.473%.
Rising yields can make bonds more attractive to investors relative to stocks, undercutting the longstanding “there-is-no-alternative” mantra that held that investors seeking yield had few other choices than equities due to ultralow rates on government securities. Shares of tech companies, which tend to be heavier borrowers and have seen the most stretched valuations, are seen as particularly vulnerable to a rise in yields.
Need to Know: So long, there-is-no-alternative trade. What now?
Rising yields had unsettled investors earlier in the week, but market participants were temporarily soothed by testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday and Wednesday. Powell said the economy remained a long way from recovery and indicated the central bank was committed to waiting until inflation tops its 2% target before moving to begin easing up on its own stimulus efforts.
“Investors clearly have a hard time buying into the Fed speak insisting that it’s too early to talk about tapering,” said Han Tan, market analyst at FXTM, in a note.
Market participants “are of the opinion that improving U.S. economic conditions will cajole the central bank into tightening their policy settings sooner than expected. Fed funds futures are already pointing to an interest rate hike that’s brought forward to the end of 2022, from 2024,” Tan said.
On the fiscal policy front, the Senate parliamentarian on Thursday ruled against passing minimum-wage legislation through the budget-reconciliation process.
Friday’s economic calendar features January data on personal income and consumer spending. Income is forecast to show a 9.5% surge, while spending is seen up 2.5%. An accompanying measure of core inflation, which is the Fed’s preferred indicator of price pressures, is forecast to show a 0.2% rise.
Data on January trade in goods is also due at 8:30 a.m., while the Chicago-area purchasing managers index for February is set for release at 9:45 a.m. The University of Michigan’s final read on its February consumer sentiment index is set for 10 a.m.
Which companies are in focus?
- Shares of Salesforce.com Inc. CRM, -3.90% were down more than 3% in premarket trade after the company late Thursday topped estimates for profit and revenue but offered earnings guidance for the coming year that was a hair lower than analysts’ estimates.
- DoorDash Inc. DASH, -5.36% shares fell more than 10%, after the app-based food-delivery company said in its first earnings report since going public that its revenue more than tripled in the fourth quarter, but its net loss more than doubled.
- Airbnb Inc. ABNB, -9.06% continued to hold up better than other online-travel companies in the holiday season, according to its first earnings report as a public company. Shares were up 2%.
- Shares of Shake Shack Inc. SHAK, -5.11% saw little movement after the fast-food restaurant chainlate Thursday turned in a narrower-than-expected loss.
- Beyond Meat Inc. BYND, -5.46% shares were boosted in off-hours trade, with disappointing earnings offset by the announcement of an exclusive deal with McDonald’s Corp. MCD, -1.09%.
- AT&T Inc. T, -2.55% and TPG Capital late Thursday announced an agreement that will make AT&T’s struggling DirecTV video business a separate company. The new company would house the DirecTV, AT&T TV, and U-Verse businesses.
- Shares of Foot Locker Inc. FL, -3.69% tumbled 10% after the athletic footwear and accessories retailer reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations, but also saw a surprise decline in net and same-store sales.
- AMC Networks Inc. AMCX, -2.28% shares rose in premarket tradeafter the media company, whose TV channels include AMC, IFC, SundanceTV and BBC America, reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue that exceeded expectations, citing strength in its streaming services.
