Tech stocks fall as bond yields climb

Futures for the tech-focused Nasdaq-100 shed 0.7% on Monday, following a 3.9% drop in the Nasdaq Composite last week, when Federal Reserve officials pushed central bank balances to raise borrowing costs and reduce inflation. Indicated his intention to shrink the sheet.

Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.3% on Monday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average contract lost 0.2%.

US government bonds increased their sales. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to 2.757%, the highest level since the start of 2019, from 2.713% on Friday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction to bond prices, have climbed for four of the past five weeks.

Shares of Twitter fell 1.9% in premarket trading after the company’s chief executive said Elon Musk had decided not to join the board. Tesla, where Mr Musk is chief executive, fell 3.6%.

AT&T, which on Friday planned to divest its film-and-TV empire into a publicly traded company, rose 1.8% premarket.

The stock market fell mostly overseas. Stokes Europe 600 fell 0.2%, with losses to technology and auto firms.

France’s CAC 40 was an outlier after President Emmanuel Macron secured 28.2% of the vote projected in the first round of the presidential election, ahead of far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s 22.9%. The two will face each other in an April 24 rematch of the 2017 election.

Ms Le Pen has downplayed her criticism of the eurozone, but her progress in elections has caused panic in European markets in recent weeks. The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0926 on Monday. The yield on 10-year French government bonds rose 1.257% to 1.280% on Friday.

Societe Generale shares rose 6.5% after the French lender said it was selling its entire stake in Rosbank and its Russian insurance units to Interros, a conglomerate controlled by metals billionaire Vladimir Potanin.

Stocks in China fell in Shanghai as the economic toll of the Covid-19 lockdown and supply-chain disruptions in the country continued. The CSI 300 index, which tracks the largest companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, fell 3.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 3%.

Bruce Pang, head of macro strategy research at China Renaissance Securities, said: “The resurgence of the pandemic is the key factor. Investors are expecting measures from Beijing to help counter the effects of the recession,” he said.

Passenger-car sales fell 10.5% in March after factory closures disrupted production, Chinese auto sales data showed on Monday. Shanghai, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, reported more than 25,000 asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus on Sunday, according to the National Health Commission.

NIO’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 11%. The electric-vehicle maker said it had to suspend production after some of its suppliers disrupted operations. Shares of Zhejiang Geely Holding, a major Chinese carmaker that owns Sweden’s Volvo Cars, fell 7.2%, while Shenzhen-listed electric-vehicle leader BYD lost 4.5%.

Political uncertainty in Europe and economic risks stemming from China’s shutdown were adding to investors’ nerves after a blistering start for stocks in 2022. Bond yields increased on the prospect of tighter monetary policy set by the Fed. The war in Ukraine, which is entering a new phase in the east of the country, has boosted commodity prices, adding to inflationary pressures.

When the first quarter earnings session begins this week, investors will analyze the results of some of the biggest financial institutions. JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock and Delta Air Lines are due for reports on Wednesday, followed by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup on Thursday.

In commodities, Brent-crude oil futures fell 2.4% to $100.35 a barrel amid a lockdown-induced fall in Shanghai and plans to issue strategic reserves in the US and elsewhere.

This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed