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U.S. equity futures Wednesday again edged lower while Treasury yields steadied into the open as investors continued to rebalance their megacap-tech holdings while eyeing jobs data and Federal Reserve meeting minutes later in the session.
Stocks tumbled Tuesday, the first trading day of the year, as a sharp move higher in Treasury yields and a shuffling of holdings in the so-called Magnificent 7 tech stocks pushed the Nasdaq to its biggest single-day decline in two months.
A Barclays downgrade for Apple (AAPL) – Get Free Report as well as a mixed fourth-quarter-delivery report from Tesla (TSLA) – Get Free Report added to the downside pressure, but while the broader S&P 500 fell 27 points, or 0.57%, the equal-weight index was largely unchanged on the day, suggesting that investors are looking to broaden their holdings following one of the best years on record for big-cap tech stocks.
Treasury yields were also in flux after data showed U.S. debt topped a record $34 trillion last week, setting up another partisan battle over spending and debt limits in Congress later this month, while bets on near-term Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes eased modestly into the start of the year.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields, which topped 4% yesterday for the first time in two weeks, eased to 3.976% in the overnight session, while 2-year notes were pegged at 4.349%.
The CME Group’s FedWatch is estimating the odds of a March rate cut at around 67.2%, down from around 74% at the end of last week, with the chances of a follow-on cut in May trading at 61.1%.
Minutes from the Fed’s December policy meeting, which hinted to at least three rate cuts this year, will be published at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish data on jobs openings and labor turnover for the month of November at 10 a.m.
On Wall Street, stocks look set for another negative session, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 indicating a 17 point opening-bell decline and those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average suggesting a 125 point pullback.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, which slumped 1.63% yesterday, is set to open 85 points lower.
In Europe, the regionwide Stoxx 600 was marked 0.53% lower in early Frankfurt trading, while last night’s selloff on Wall Street pulled the MSCI Asia ex-Japan benchmark 1.38% into the red by the close of trading.
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