New York, Feb 23, 2021 (AFP)
Tech shares plunged for a second straight day on Wall Street Tuesday as the market mulled the post-Covid economic outlook and rising bond yields, and digested testimony from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
The tech-dominated Nasdaq tumbled 2.7 percent to 13,164.12 in early trading in a sign of renewed investor caution on the high-flying sector.
The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 1.36 percent to 3,823.70 and the Dow Jones industrial average shed 1.02 percent to 31,199.36.
Among stocks especially hard hit were Tesla, plunging 8.6 percent, while Apple dropped 3.4 percent, Alphabet declined 2.3 percent and Amazon 1.9 percent.
Tech shares have been impacted by rising bond yields, which have changed the outlook for many investors mulling inflation prospects after a long period of near-zero interest rates.
"As long as yields keep pushing higher in the bond market, it could pose headwinds for the tech sector," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.
"Growth stocks like these -- which led things higher last year when so many investors were searching for safety in the familiar companies and the stay-at-home economy --just don't tend to do as well in a rising yield environment."
Powell meanwhile pledged that the US central bank will keep benchmark lending rates low until the economy is at full employment and inflation has risen consistently.
In testimony to lawmakers, Powell repeated his assurance that the Fed will keep rates at the current level near zero until the economy reaches "maximum employment and inflation has risen to 2 percent and is on track to moderately exceed 2 percent for some time."
Boeing shares lost 1.5 percent in response to last week's spectacular engine failure on a United Airlines plane, which scattered debris over suburban Denver and led to dozens of Boeing 777 aircraft being grounded worldwide.

Sumber : AFP