By Anna Hirtenstein and Paul Vigna
U.S. stocks pared their early gains Thursday as bond yields
inched higher, weighing on technology and other growth stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 added 0.1%,
while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%. At the morning's highs, the
S&P 500 and Nasdaq were at fresh records as investors cheered
encouraging data on the economy, a strong batch of corporate
earnings and the prospect of as much as $1.8 trillion in new
government spending.
Investors appeared to be bothered by a jump in the yield on the
U.S. 10-year Treasury note, said Art Cashin, managing director of
UBS Financial Services, in a note to investors. The yield on the
10-year rose as high as 1.688%, its highest intraday level in more
than two weeks, from 1.621% on Wednesday. It was most recently at
1.653%. Prices fall when yields rise.
"There is a pretty strong fundamental backdrop that is just not
supportive for bonds. Growth is accelerating in most of the
developed world," said Salman Baig, multiasset investment manager
at Unigestion. He expects yields to keep rising in the longer term.
"This environment of good growth and significant building
inflationary pressures is a very negative environment for
government bonds."
The rise in yields, which were as low as 0.915% at the start of
the year, has curbed investor appetite for technology stocks, which
often are afforded high price tags based on expectations of growth
far into the future. The S&P 500's technology sector slipped
0.8%, the worst performer of the index's 11 groups.
Apart from the bond moves, the morning provided investors with
fresh signs of the economy's recovery. The U.S. economy grew at a
6.4% rate in the first quarter, approaching its pre-pandemic size,
and weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest level since the
pandemic began last year.
The economy is getting a boost from two main sources, said Nancy
Vanden Houten, the chief economist at Oxford Economics. One is the
receding pandemic -- at least in the U.S. -- and the reopening of
the economy, and the other is the stimulus efforts from both the
federal government and Federal Reserve.
"We're on a really good path here," she said, while
acknowledging a full recovery is still a long way off, a sentiment
echoed by the Federal Reserve itself on Wednesday.
A fresh boost could come in the form of a new federal stimulus
program. President Biden outlined proposals on Wednesday for his
new American Families Plan, which would boost spending on child
care, education and paid leave. Investors' optimism was also buoyed
after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank
would continue supporting the economy, while noting signs that
growth has revived and the labor market is strengthening.
"In this environment, it is very difficult to be bearish," said
Gregory Perdon, co-chief investment officer at private bank
Arbuthnot Latham.
A high level of household savings is morphing into consumer
spending as the economy reopens and will also deliver a boost, he
added. "I struggle to see any factor over the course of the next
six months that would outweigh this ready-steady-spend
narrative."
Mr. Powell on Wednesday said the recent rise in inflation
largely reflected "transitory factors," and that the Fed would hold
rates steady until the labor market is back to full strength and
inflation has reached the central bank's goal of averaging 2%. His
comments helped reassure markets that the Fed won't shift course
abruptly.
"They are going to let the economy run hot," Mr. Perdon said.
"The prospect of there being a tightening in the very near term is
just not on the table."
Earnings season remains under way, with Amazon.com and Twitter
slated to post results after market hours. In afternoon trading,
Amazon fell 0.4% and Twitter dropped 2.1%.
Apple shares fell 0.7% even after reporting that quarterly
profit more than doubled to a record and saying it expects the
surge in sales to continue. Facebook jumped 5.4% after it reported
a boom in its ad business that drove revenue and profit sharply
higher.
EBay tumbled 11% after saying it expects earnings on a per-share
basis for the current quarter to come in below analysts'
expectations. Qualcomm rose 3.4% after reporting a jump in revenue
boosted by high demand for 5G phones. Comcast gained 3.9% after it
posted a 55% rise in first-quarter profit.
Fresh data Thursday showed that the U.S. economy expanded at a
6.4% annual rate in the first quarter, expanding a consumer-led
rebound from the pandemic.
Initial jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, reached 553,000 for
the week ended April 24. That is the lowest level since the
pandemic began more than a year ago, but was above forecasts from
economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.3%.
Among European equities, Nokia rallied 8.4% after the
telecommunications company's earnings beat expectations, driven by
sales of 5G network equipment.
The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.5%, and Hong Kong's Hang
Seng added 0.8%.
Write to Anna Hirtenstein at anna.hirtenstein@wsj.com and Paul
Vigna at paul.vigna@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2021 12:56 ET (16:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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