US equities reversed course on Thur as global central banks moved more quickly to wind down their pandemic stimulus efforts to combat high inflation. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell the most since Sept, retreating 2.61%, led by losses in Apple (AAPL US, -3.93%) and Tesla (TSLA US, -5.03%).
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 29.79 pts or 0.08% to close at 35,897.64. The broader S&P 500 index fell 0.87%. The small cap Russell 2000 dropped 1.95%.
Adobe (ADBE US, -10.19%) shares plunged on Thur, after it projected revenue for the first fiscal quarter and full year 2022 that fell short of analysts’ estimates.
Sterling (GBP/USD) gained 0.46% against the US dollar on Thur. The Bank of England said it will raise its benchmark interest rate by 15 bps to 0.25% to tame inflation, which marks the first increase in rates by a major central bank since the pandemic outbreak.
Across the channel, the European Central Bank left rates unchanged, and said it will boost the pace of regular bond purchases for half a year as it phases out emergency debt buying. The Euro gained 0.36% against the dollar on Thur.
Bank stocks held up on Thur, with Wells Fargo (WFC US, +2.78%) and JP Morgan (JPM US, +1.56%) outperforming the general US stock market.
FedEx (FDX US, -0.94%) gained 4.94% in after-hours trade on Thur. The courier’s profit beat expectations as higher package volume and increased prices eased investor concerns over higher labor US costs.
Oracle (ORCL US, -0.41%) is in talks to buy electronic-medical-records company Cerner (CERN US +0.72%), according to WSJ. A deal could be worth around $30b and help Oracle to enter further into the healthcare space.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped 4.59 basis points (bps) to 1.4106%. The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG US) fell 0.41%.
The most actively traded US gold futures (Feb) contracts settled up $33.70, or 1.9%, at US$1,798.20/oz.
March silver, which is the most actively traded silver futures, rose 94.1 cents, or 4.4%, to end at US$22.471/oz.
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.49% to 96.042.
The front-month Brent and WTI futures closed up $1.14 at US$75.02/bbl and $1.51 at US$72.38/bbl respectively.
European equity markets finished higher on Thur. The UK FTSE gained 1.25%, France's CAC 40 rose 1.12%, while the German DAX advanced 1.03%.