NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The rapid rise in yields on the bond market weighed on US technology stocks in particular on Thursday. Higher interest rates are causing problems for these shares, some of which are very highly valued, because they increase the financing costs of the strongly growth-oriented tech companies. In general, alternatives to equity investments could become more attractive if the current yield trend continues.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 1.59 percent to 12,991.84 points. The market-wide S&P 500, which contains many tech values, lost 0.47 percent to 3955.42 points. The leading index Dow Jones Industrial, however, made the jump to a record high and was most recently 0.33 percent up at 33 124.75 points.
For some time now, bond yields have benefited from the trillion dollar economic stimulus from the US government and the progress made in the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) continued to react calmly to developments on the bond market. The current very loose monetary policy is still considered appropriate.
The rising bond yields meanwhile raised hopes for better interest rate deals from banks. Thus, at the top of the Dow, the shares of Goldman Sachs rose by 3.3 percent and that of JPMorgan by 3.7 percent. The shares of both finance houses were thus listed at record levels.
The experts at the Swiss bank Credit Suisse pointed out that more members of the Fed’s monetary policy committee now expect an interest rate hike as early as 2022. The number of those who expect an increase in 2023 has also grown. The Credit Suisse experts expect bond yields to continue to rise as the market adapts to the new signals.
At the bottom of the S&P 500, Dollar General’s shares plummeted more than six percent. The department store chain had disappointed analysts’ expectations with its sales and earnings forecasts. In addition, earnings per share were surprisingly low in the fourth quarter./la/fba
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