Investing.com– The S&P 500 closed lower Thursday, notching a fifth-straight daily loss and its longest losing streak since October, as investors weighed up rising treasury yields on easing hopes for rate cuts.
At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 24 points, or 0.1%, but had up around 330 points intraday. The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, while NASDAQ Composite fell 0.5%.
Treasury yields continue to melt-up on hawkish fed speak, stronger economic data
Treasury yields continued to trend higher rate-cut expectations continued to take knock following remarks from Fed speakers calling for patient on cuts, while others flagged the possible of resuming rate hikes should inflation pick up pace.
Interest are in a “good place”, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Thursday, though cautioned that “if the data are telling us that we would need higher interest rates to achieve our goals, then we would obviously want to do that.”
Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic reiterated that rate cuts aren’t likely to begin until the end of the year the path to the 2% inflation target would be slow and bumpy.
As well as hawkish Fed remarks, fewer than exepcted Initial jobless claims data, pointing to ongoing strength in the labor market and an unexpected increase in a key regional manufacturing report also dented hopes on rate cuts.
Taiwan Semiconductor impressive results fail to stop chip rout
TSMC (NYSE:TSM), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, fell 5% as its lowered forecast for overall semiconductor growth offset first-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates, driven by strong demand for all things AI.
Some on Wall Street remain sanguine on the chipmaker on expectations for an ongoing boost from AI-led demand.
“[W]e are viewing results through a constructive lens, given the positive commentary from TSMC regarding its outlook for artificial intelligence,” Wedbush said in a note as it reiterated its outperform rating on the stock.
Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) also weighed on chip stocks after falling more than 8% even as the memory chip maker is reportedly set to receive over $6 billion in government grants.
Alaska Air shines on earnings stage, Alcoa rises, Las Vegas Sands slips on Macau worries
Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK) was flat after the carrier forecast current-quarter profit above estimates as the hit to capacity from the grounding of its Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 Max 9 fleet was offset by a surge in corporate travel demand.
Aluminum producer Alcoa (NYSE:AA) was trading below the flatline after its earnings topped estimates, and it flagged steady production in 2024.
Casino operator Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) fell over 9% despite beating profit expectations, as underperformance at its Macau operations remained a point of concern.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
