U.S. stocks fell sharply Thursday as an outsized surge in bond yields spooked investors, who rushed to dump risk assets, especially high-flying technology names.
The Dow Jones Industrials staggered 559.85 points, or 1.8%, to 31,402.01, from Wednesday’s all-time record close.
The S&P 500 lost 96.09 points, or 2.5%, to 3,829.34. Consumer discretionary slid 5.4%, and info tech skidded 4.5%, and were thus the two biggest losers among 11 S&P 500 sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite hurtled earthward 478.53 points, or 3.5%, to 13,119.43, posting its biggest selloff since Oct. 28. Alphabet, Facebook, and Apple all fell more than 3%, while Tesla dropped 8.1%. Microsoft shed 2%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has dropped 5.4% this week, on pace for its second weekly loss in a row.
GameStop, the controversial meme stock whose massive short squeeze shocked Wall Street last month, is on the rise again. Shares gained 18.6% in volatile trading after doubling in the previous session on the reported ousting of a chief executive.
The major averages tumbled in a rapid fashion as the 10-year Treasury yield soared as high as 1.6% in a sudden move that some described as a “flash” spike. The yield later settled back down to around 1.52%, its highest level since February 2020.
Investors digested better-than-expected economic data out Thursday. First-time jobless claims totaled 730,000 for the week ended Feb. 20, versus a print of 845,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. Meanwhile, durable goods orders increased by 3.4% in January, compared to a Dow Jones consensus of 1.0% growth.
Some traders looked past the moves in the bond market after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasized the central bank’s commitment to easy policy and downplayed the risk of inflation, saying it could take three years or more before the Fed’s goals are reached.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys fell sharply, raising yields to 1.50% from Wednesday’s 1.38%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices reacquired 16 cents to $63.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $25.80 to $1,772.10