Nasdaq Roars Back After Bond Yields Dip

Tech-heavy index had best day in almost a year
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 9, 2021 3:49 PM CST
Nasdaq Roars Back After Bond Yields Dip
Big technology companies led the stock market higher in trading Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Gains for major tech companies powered a 3.7% surge in the Nasdaq Tuesday, the largest jump for the index in almost a year. The latest swing came a day after the tech-driven index sank more than 10% below its February peak. Markets have been adjusting to a rapid increase in long-term interest rates in the bond market over the past few weeks. That has helped pull money out of stocks, particularly tech companies that have been surging through the pandemic as more of daily life moves online. A decline in bond yields Tuesday helped put that trend in reverse, perhaps temporarily, the AP reports. The S&P 500 rose 54.09 points, or 1.4%, to 3,875.44. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.30 points, or 0.1%, to 31,832.74. The Nasdaq rose 464.66 points to 13,073.82.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 1.54% after trading above 1.60% a day earlier. Financial sector stocks, which had benefited from the rise in bond yields, were lagging the rest of the market. Bank of America fell 1.1%, while American Express slid 2.8%. Banks tend to do well when interest rates are rising because they get to charge higher rates on loans. Some of the big technology stocks that fueled the market’s remarkable turnaround in 2020 after its initial plunge as the pandemic upended the global economy had been shedding gains in the weeks since the Nasdaq’s peak on Feb. 12. Apple was down 14% through the end of last week. It was up 4% Tuesday. Chipmaker Nvidia had been down 22.5% in the same stretch, but is now up 8%. Amazon was up 3.76%, clawing back some of its losses after a nearly 10% skid since the Nasdaq’s peak.

(More stock market stories.)

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