Stocks fell on Monday with the Nasdaq Composite index falling to the lowest level in two years as tech shares continue to be the hardest hit in this bear market because of a spiking interest rates.
The Nasdaq Composite fell more than 1.3% to touch its lowest levels since September 2020, weighed down by a slump in semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia and AMD. It regained some of the losses back later in the day, trading down about 0.8%. The S&P 500 also fell, dragged down by semi stocks and dips in major tech names Apple and Microsoft. The benchmark lost about 0.46%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 24 points, bolstered a bit by gains in Merck and McDonalds.
The slump in semiconductor stocks comes after the Biden administration announced new export controls that limit U.S. companies selling advanced computing semiconductors and related manufacturing equipment to China. Tech shares have also been hit the hardest in this sell-off as rising rates expose their relatively high valuations and raise their cost of capital.
While the bond market is closed, futures on the 10-year Treasury note were lower in Monday trading indicating yields will continue their march higher on Tuesday. Yields move inversely to prices. The price of 10-year Treasury futures were lower by about 0.6%.
“There are a lot of market participants that really key off of what the Treasury yields are doing, and when they’re not open it’s hard to have that volume in the market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial. “We’re probably going to be in wait and see move until we open in full force tomorrow.”
Investors were also cautious ahead of key earnings and inflation reports this week that will shed new light on the U.S. economy. Four of the world’s largest banks – JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Citi – report Friday. PepsiCo, Delta and Domino’s are also among companies reporting next week.
New monthly Producer Price Index data comes Wednesday and Consumer Price Index data comes Thursday.
The Nasdaq’s losses for the year are now greater than 32% after Monday’s decline. The S&P 500 is off by 24% in 2022.
