NEW YORK, March 29 ― US stocks ended slightly lower yesterday as investors weighed comments from a top US regulator on struggling banks and sold shares of technology-related names after their recent strong run.
Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve's top banking regulator, told a Senate panel that Silicon Valley Bank did a “terrible” job of managing risk before its collapse.
Shares of Apple and Microsoft along with other technology-related shares ended down and were among the biggest drags on the S&P 500.
“It's a little bit of a follow-through from yesterday's pullback in tech stocks. You're seeing a little bit of profit-taking,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. “Some of the enthusiasm is waning a little bit.”
The S&P 500 technology index was down 0.5 per cent yesterday, extending this week's declines, but remains up sharply for the quarter.
The KBW regional banking index was down 0.2 per cent on the day. Shares of First Citizens BancShares Inc were up slightly, a day after the stock rose more than 50 per cent after it said it would acquire the deposits and loans of Silicon Valley Bank.
Bank stocks have sold off sharply in the wake of problems at Silicon Valley and other banks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 37.83 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 32,394.25, the S&P 500 lost 6.26 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 3,971.27 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 52.76 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 11,716.08.
“The prospect of stricter regulations for banks with deposits above US$100 billion (RM441 billion) is raising the anxiety level for those that are perceived currently to be struggling,” James said.
Treasury yields edged higher, also weighing on tech-focused shares. Yields have climbed from six-months lows hit Friday.
Early in the day, a survey showed US consumer confidence unexpectedly increased in March, but also that Americans are becoming a bit anxious about the labor market.
With the quarter end approaching, investors are looking forward to upcoming bank results, which may give them more details about the health of the sector following the collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank.
Alibaba Group Holding jumped 14.3 per cent after the company said it plans to split its business into six main units covering e-commerce, media and the cloud.
After the closing bell, shares of Micron Technology Inc were up about 1 per cent. It forecast third-quarter revenue in line with Wall Street expectations. Micron closed down 0.9 per cent in the regular session.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.28-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 6 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 40 new highs and 153 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 9.66 billion shares, compared with the 12.75 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. ― Reuters
