FM:CC - Bond Yields Weigh on Stock Indices
Stocks fell Thursday and bond yields jumped as Federal Reserve officials signaled their rate-hiking campaign to slow inflation is far from over.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 7.51 points to 33,546.32
The S&P 500 subtracted 12.23 points to 3,946.56
The NASDAQ dropped 38.7 points to 11,144.56.
Stocks rebounded from lows reached earlier in the day as shares of Cisco Systems jumped more than 4%. The networking equipment company surpassed expectations in its fiscal first-quarter report, and issued upbeat guidance. Other tech stocks such as Apple and Intel also led gains.
Semiconductor stocks bolstered the sector, with shares of Advanced Micro Devices up 2%. NXP Semiconductors NV was about 1.8% higher, ON Semiconductor rose 1.7%, and Lam Research climbed 1.6%.
Norwegian Cruise Line shed 6% following a double downgrade to an underperform rating from Credit Suisse, who said shares are trading at a premium and investors can find better value in its peers.
Shares of Macy's rallied 14% after the department store reported profit and revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations and raised its earnings forecast for the year. However, it left its revenue guidance unchanged.
Shares in BJ's Wholesale dropped 6% despite the company reporting beats on the top and bottom lines while upping its full-year forecast for per-share earnings. BJ's also beat expectations for comparable store sales.
St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said in a speech Thursday that “the policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be considered sufficiently restrictive.”
On the economic front, initial jobless claims were 222,000 for the week ending Nov. 12, a drop of 4,000 from the prior week's adjusted 226,000 claims.
U.S. housing starts in October dipped 4.2% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.425 million. Still, that came in better than the 1.41 million units expected, according to Dow Jones consensus estimates.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell sharply, raising yields to 3.77% from Wednesday's 3.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices flopped $3.61 to $81.98 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices doffed $12.40 to $1,763.40 U.S. an ounce.