Enzolytics Inc (ENZC)

[falon]

UPDATE: Dow slides 460 points, Nasdaq sees correction after Powell struggles to cool bond-market jitters
Today 1:37 PM ET (MarketWatch)Print
By Sunny Oh and Mark DeCambre

The 10-year Treasury note yield rose above 1.50%

Stock benchmarks on Thursday fell for a third day as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he was monitoring the recent rise in bond yields but that the rise in inflation expected this year was unlikely to last and current monetary policy remained appropriate.

How are stock benchmarks performing?

On Wednesday (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-climb-over-200-points-ahead-of-private-sector-jobs-report-11614775771?mod=market-snapshot), the Dow fell 121.43 points, or 0.4%, to close at 31,270.09, the S&P 500 shed 50.57 points, 1.3%, ending at 3,819.72, while the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 361.04 points, or 2.7%, to mark its largest two day percentage decline since Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

What's driving the market?

At The Wall Street Journal Jobs Summit, Powell said he would be concerned about a disorderly move in the bond market (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/powell-sends-warning-to-markets-that-fed-doesnt-want-persistent-tightening-in-financial-conditions-11614879804?mod=mw_latestnews), but suggested that it had not had a material impact on financial conditions yet. This comes after previous remarks by Fed officials that they were not overly concerned about the move up in bond yields.

"Powell is echoing a lot of the comments we've heard from other Fed officials in recent days," wrote Mark Grant, chief global strategist at B. Riley Financial.

His remarks did not help markets though as investors had fretted that if Powell shrugged off the recent rise in bond yields, it could spur further selling in a vulnerable Treasurys market and, in turn, weigh on equities.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-treasury-yields-edge-lower-as-powell-speech-draws-focus-11614863892?mod=bond-report) rose to 1.54%, up around 7 basis points from where it traded at the end of Wednesday and the highest levels in about a year.

Powell's comments mark the last from Fed officials before a self-imposed "blackout" period ahead of the next two-day policy meeting starting on March 16.

Some of the volatility on Thursday also reflected a "great rotation" as some analysts describe a shift out of highflying technology stocks, viewed as expensive by some measures, to other areas of the market considered undervalued, including energy and financials.

Analysts say the move reflects how investors are pricing in economic recovery and better times for stocks hit in the past year by the COVID-19 pandemic, reversing some of the gains from technology stocks that thrived under business lockdowns and social-distancing protocols last year.

Stocks had initially traded relatively strongly after initial jobless claims in for the week ended Feb. 27 rose 9,000 to 745,000 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-unemployment-claims-rise-slightly-to-745-000-after-texas-power-outages-11614865793?mod=mw_latestnews) which was a smaller rise than the 750,000-760,000 estimates expected by economists surveyed by Econoday and Dow Jones. And new federal jobless claims totaled 436,696 in the week.

Beyond the weekly jobless claims data, a reading of productivity and costs showed that U.S. productivity tapered off less than previously estimated at end of 2020 (https://www.marketwatch.com/latest-news?mod=newsviewer_click).

Separately, U.S. factory orders rose (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-factory-orders-increase-26-in-january-2021-03-04?mod=mw_latestnews)2.6% in January as manufacturers continued to lead the way for the U.S. economic recovery. Orders for durable goods made to last at least three years climbed an unrevised 3.4% last month. Orders for nondurable goods such as clothing and groceries rose a slower 1.9%.