By Echo Wang
(Reuters) – Wall Street ended lower on Friday amid concerns about rising Treasury yields and the prospect of more Fed rate hikes.
“Ninety-five percent of the driver of the market right now is long-term interest rates,” said Jay Hatfield, founder and chief executive of Infrastructure Capital Management in New York.
The Labor Department presented stronger-than-expected jobs data with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 428,000 jobs in April, versus expectations of 391,000 job additions, underscoring the economy’s strong fundamentals despite a contraction in gross domestic product in the first quarter.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.6% in the month, while average hourly earnings increased 0.3% against a forecast of a 0.4% rise.
Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors declined, with energy outperforming as oil prices climbed on supply concerns. [O/R]
“Oil is up again, continuing the inflationary worries that we are seeing and energy is bucking the trend of a very weak market. But the higher natural gas and crude oil prices have been tailwinds for the energy sector this year.” Said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for LPL Financial.
Megacap growth stocks slipped, with a few exceptions including Apple Inc. Wells Fargo & Co slid to lead losses among big banks.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 23.14 points, or 0.55%, to end at 4,124.09 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 173.94 points, or 1.41%, to 12,143.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86.16 points, or 0.26%, to 32,911.81.
Most traders are expecting a 75 basis-point hike at the U.S. central bank’s June meeting, despite Fed chief Jerome Powell’s ruling that out.[IRPR]
The CBOE volatility index, a measure of investors’ anxiety, soared.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped in choppy trading
Under Armour Inc slumped after the sportswear maker forecast downbeat fiscal 2023 profit. Shares of rival Nike Inc also slipped.
Coinbase Global Inc dropped on Friday to the lowest level since the cryptocurrency exchange’s 2021 stock market debut.
(Reporting by Echo Wang in New York; Additional reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Anil D’Silva and Cynthia Osterman)