NEW YORK, April 26 — Stocks snapped a three-day winning streak yesterday as disappointing forecasts from Facebook and Instagram owner Meta hammered the tech sector, and Japan’s yen sank through 155 per dollar for the first time since 1990.
Tepid US GDP data and Meta’s slump weighed on equities.
US Treasury yields hit their highest in over five months after the data showed signs of persistent inflation, lowering hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates anytime soon.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Reuters that US economic growth was likely stronger than suggested by weaker-than-expected data on first-quarter output and said the Biden administration was keeping all options open to respond to threats from China’s excess industrial capacity.
Gold prices rose, and oil prices finished higher.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 3.87 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 755.59.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 375.12 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 38,085.80, the S&P 500 lost 23.21 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 5,048.42 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 100.99 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 15,611.76.
Shares of Alphabet and Microsoft advanced in extended hours trading after both companies reported quarterly results that beat Wall Street estimates. However, Intel shares dropped 8 per cent in extended hours trading after it forecast second-quarter revenue and profit below market estimates.
European shares closed down 0.7 per cent, paring losses after shedding more than 1 per cent intraday, hit by bleak earnings from consumer giant Nestle NESN.S and Dutch digital payments firm Adyen.
London’s FTSE 100 held onto gains and touched a record high as UK-listed miner Anglo American surged on a US$39 billion buyout offer from Australian rival BHP.
US slowdown
Beyond corporate earnings, investors were digesting the sharper-than-expected slowdown in first-quarter US economic growth.
“Despite the expected GDP slowdown in 2024, there are no imminent signs of a recession,” said Mutual of America Capital Management’s chairman and chief executive, Stephen Rich.
Hotter-than-expected inflation reports have pushed back and reduced expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, with markets now pricing in roughly a 70 per cent chance of a first reduction in September. Investors are not even fully convinced there will be another cut this year, having expected around six cuts at the start of the year.
The dollar index softened 0.21 per cent at 105.58, and the euro retreated 0.02 per cent to US$1.0727.
The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes rose 5 basis points to 4.704 per cent, from 4.654 per cent late on Wednesday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 6.3 basis points to 4.9996 per cent, from 4.937 per cent.
The Japanese yen reversed earlier losses, up 0.03 per cent against the greenback, after sinking to its lowest level in 34 years. It is now firmly past the latest line in the sand traders had drawn for Japan to intervene in the markets.
“Tokyo has still not intervened, and I reiterate that it does look like there will be no intervention so long as USD/JPY’s climb continues in a relatively non-volatile fashion,” said RBC Capital Markets’ head of Asian FX strategy, Alvin Tan.
The Bank of Japan started its two-day rate-setting meeting yesterday, with expectations that it will keep its key short-term interest rate target unchanged.
Attention will be on what Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s says about the yen’s struggles.
Brent crude futures settled 99 cents, or 1.1 per cent, higher at US$89.01 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures was up 76 cents, or 09 per cent, at US$83.57.
Spot gold added 0.69 per cent to US$2,331.78 an ounce. US gold futures settled down 0.2 per cent to US$2,319.90 an ounce. — Reuters
