By Bansari Mayur Kamdar
(Reuters) -Futures tracking the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 index slumped almost 2% on Tuesday as traders returned from a long holiday weekend to position for a more hawkish Federal Reserve ahead of a policy meeting next week.
Rate-sensitive tech stocks came under pressure as two-year Treasury yields, which track short-term rate expectations, crossed 1% for the first time since February 2020. [US/]
U.S.-listed megacap tech companies including Google’s Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft were last down between 1.5% and 2.4% in premarket trading.
Later in the week, a U.S. Senate panel is also set to debate a bill that aims to rein in app stores of companies that some lawmakers say exert too much market control, including Apple and Alphabet’s Google.
A monthly survey conducted by Deutsche Bank found that a majority of respondents believed U.S. technology stocks are in a bubble as investors remained more bearish on hawkish policy moves and higher yields.
The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 fell for a second straight week as bearish sentiment on tech and disappointing results from big banks weighed on the U.S. indexes just as the earnings season kicked off.
The S&P technology index has declined 4.8% so far since the start of 2022.
At 6:47 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 246 points, or 0.69%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 49.75 points, or 1.07%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 264.5 points, or 1.7%.
Among banks, Goldman Sachs reports later in the day and Bank of America and Morgan Stanley will post their fourth-quarter results on Wednesday. Netflix will kick-off reporting among big tech shares on Jan. 20.
Starbucks fell 1.2% in premarket trading on partnering with China’s dominant food delivery firm, Meituan, to expand its reach in the second-biggest market globally.
Airbnb dropped 3.8% after Gordon Haskett cut the home rental firm’s shares to “hold” and lowered its target price.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar, Shreyashi Sanyal, Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru and Danilo Masoni in Milan; Editing by Maju Samuel)