By Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian
(Reuters) – The Nasdaq index fell on Friday as growth stocks came under pressure after Treasury yields extended gains, while shares of ride-hailing firm Lyft plunged following a downbeat profit forecast.
The Nasdaq eyed its first weekly fall this year, while the S&P 500 and the Dow were set to clock declines for a week dominated by hawkish commentary from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and earnings reports from more than half of the S&P 500 constituents.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to their highest in more than a month following an auction of 30-year bonds that saw weak demand. [US/]
Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Tesla Inc were down between 0.6% and 4.4%. Rising Treasury yields put valuations of growth stocks under strain.
“If you get 4% in Treasuries risk free, why would you risk any money in the stock market?” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at 50 Park Investments. “It definitely impacts the NASDAQ 100 type stock because they’re very sensitive to interest rates.”
At 10:09 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.18 points, or 0.00%, at 33,700.06, the S&P 500 was down 9.72 points, or 0.24%, at 4,071.78, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 92.48 points, or 0.78%, at 11,697.10.
Eight out of 11 major S&P 500 sectors fell, with the consumer discretionary sector dropping 1.3%. The energy sector added 2.2% as oil prices climbed on Russia’s plans to cut crude supplies.
Lyft Inc plummeted 35.3% as current-quarter profit forecast was well below estimates and it also lowered prices, raising concerns it was falling behind bigger rival Uber Technologies Inc. Uber shares dropped 3.6%.
Sharpie maker Newell Brands Inc slid 4.8% on lower-than-expected annual forecasts, while also announcing the retirement of Chief Executive Ravi Saligram.
More than half of the firms listed on the S&P 500 have reported earnings with 69% beating profit estimates for the quarter as per Refinitiv.
Intel Corp is weighing a $1.5-billion expansion of its chip testing and packaging plant in Vietnam, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Shares of the chip behemoth dipped 0.7%.
U.S. consumer sentiment survey improved further in February month-on-month, but households expected higher inflation to persist over the next 12 months, the University of Michigan’s preliminary February reading showed.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.61-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 2.08-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 13 new highs and 39 new lows.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sriraj Kalluvila)