Investors monitor fallout from Archegos margin call
U.S. stock-index futures edged lower Tuesday, with technology shares seen likely to come under pressure after Treasury yields saw a renewed rise.
What are major indexes doing?
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00 fell 48 points, or 0.2%, to 32,984.
- S&P 500 futures ES00 were off 15.15 points, or 0.4%, at 3,943.75.
- Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00 declined 88.25 points, or 0.7% to 12,856.25.
On Monday, the Dow DJIA flipped positive in afternoon trade to end the day up 98.49 points, or 0.3%, to close at a record 33,171.37. The S&P 500 SPX ended the session down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP dropped 0.6% and the small-cap Russell 2000 RUT dropped 2.8%.
What’s driving the market?
A renewed selloff in U.S. Treasurys overnight was driving activity across markets Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note BX:TMUBMUSD10Y early Tuesday traded above 1.77% for the first time since January 2020 and remained up nearly 6 basis points near 1.769%, according to FactSet.
Rising yields were lifting the U.S. dollar and weighing on technology stocks and other growth-oriented shares. Technology and growth stocks are more sensitive to rising bond yields as the net present value of their future earnings growth is reduced more by the higher discount rate implied by rising bond yields.
“The latest moves seem tied to resurgent concerns around inflation. Market-based inflation measures have shot higher as well, perhaps as investors brace for Biden’s multi-trillion infrastructure announcement tomorrow,” said Marios Hadjikyriacos, investment analyst at XM, in a note. President Joe Biden is slated to unveil details of his infrastructure plan in a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
“Coming on top of the latest avalanche of federal spending, such an enormous investment package could turbocharge economic growth and by extension inflationary pressures,” he said.
Biden’s infrastructure plan, meanwhile, is expected to cost as much as $3 trillion to $4 trillion, offset by tax hikes of up to $3 trillion.
Meanwhile, investors were on the lookout for any further selling of stocks after a large margin call on equity derivatives held by Archegos Capital Management that forced an estimated $30 billion in block sales, triggering plunges in shares of widely held media companies whose stocks were liquidated. Big bank shares were also dented due to worries about their exposure to Archegos.
The U.S. economic calendar features the Case-Shiller home-price index for January at 9 a.m. Eastern. A March consumer-confidence index is due at 10 a.m.
Randal Quarles, Fed vice chair for supervision, is scheduled to deliver remarks at 9 a.m., while New York Fed President John Williams is slated to speak at 2: 30 p.m.
Which companies are in focus?
- Shares of ViacomCBS Inc. VIAC were up more than 2% in premarket trade after falling nearly 7% Monday and suffering steep losses last week in moves tied to the Archegos liquidation.
- Shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS and Morgan Stanley MS were up slightly in premarket action. The banks moved large blocks of assets before other large banks that traded with Archegos Capital Management, as the scale of the hedge fund’s losses became apparent, according to The Wall Street Journal, helping to limit their losses amid the stock liquidation.
- PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL shares edged higher after the payments company said it would start letting U.S. customers purchase items with cryptocurrencies.
- Shares of videogame-retailer GameStop Corp. GME rose after it announced the appointment Tuesday of former Amazon executive Elliott Wilke to the role of chief growth officer effective April 5. Wilke has held a range of roles at Amazon in branding, consumer goods and e-commerce, in segments including Amazon Fresh, Prime Pantry and Worldwide Private Brands.
How are other markets trading?
- The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up 0.2%.
- Oil futures were under pressure as the Suez Canal reopened to traffic and traders turned their attention to this week’s OPEC+ meeting, with the U.S. benchmark CL down 1.3% at $60.76 a barrel.
- Gold futures were under pressure, with the June contract GCM21 down 1.9% at $1,682.50 an ounce.
- In Europe, the Stoxx 600 index XX:SXXP was up 0.3%, while London’s FTSE 100 UK:UKX rose 0.1%.
- In Asia, the Shanghai Composite CN:SHCOMP rose 0.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HK:HSI rose 0.8% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 JP:NIK was up 0.2%.