The Biden administration announced an attempt to increase revenue over the next 15 years by $2.5 trillion corporate tax package, and Federal Reserve official Dallas Fed President Kaplan made hawkish remarks about withdrawing easing, and U.S. stocks endured a double whammy before the release of the Fed’s March meeting minutes, with the three major stock indexes once falling collectively.
Observers noted that after Kaplan mentioned the end of the epidemic on reducing easing, the three major U.S. stock indexes fell in unison during the day, and the decline was extended after Yellen announced her corporate tax proposal.
The Fed minutes show the Fed believes it will take some time to meet QE tapering requirements, while hinting that QE bond purchases will be quickly adjusted at any time. After the release of the minutes, 10-year U.S. bond yields rallied, the dollar index rose from a two-week trough, the three major stock indexes had risen collectively, but the Dow and the Nasdaq have since turned down again, the Dow did not turn up again until the end of the session.
The Dow rebounded slightly and the S&P made a new high. The Nasdaq had two straight negative days.
The three major U.S. stock indexes performed differently, with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both opening higher, both turning lower in early trading. The Dow opened lower, up more than 90 points at the beginning of the session when the new daily high, and down more than 80 points at midday when the new daily low. The S&P rose more than 0.22% in early trading to a new daily high, turned lower at the end of the morning session, down nearly 0.14% in the afternoon session to a new daily low. Nasdaq composite index opened nearly 0.17% lower, down more than 0.3% at the beginning of the session when the new daily low, turned up about half an hour after the opening, and turned down at the end of the morning session.
The S&P turned up just before the Fed minutes were released, and the Dow and Nasdaq turned up again after the minutes were released, and the Dow and Nasdaq turned down at the end of the session, with the Nasdaq holding its losses into the close and the Dow turning up hard at the end of the session.
By the close, the S&P and Dow rebounded slightly and the Nasdaq continued to close lower. The S&P closed up 0.15% at 4,079.95 points, refreshing the new closing high set on Monday. The Dow closed up 16.02 points, or 0.05%, at 33,446.26 points, close to the closing high set on Monday. The Nasdaq closed down 0.07% at 13,688.84, falling further away from the closing high set on Monday since Feb. 19, although the two-day closing loss this week was less than 0.1%.
Small-cap stocks were far worse than the three major indices on Wednesday, with value stocks dominating the small-cap index Russell 2000 opening lower and expanding to more than 1% at midday, with losses still expanding after the release of the Fed minutes to close down 1.6%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 index closed up 0.28%, outperforming the broader market.
FAANMG six major technology stocks led by Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet rose more than 1%, Microsoft and Nifty rose more than 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively. S&P components Nvidia and Facebook rose more than 2%, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase and others rose more than 1%, but Tesla fell about 3%. Other new energy auto stocks also fell, with Ideal Auto down about 13%, Xiaopeng dropped nearly 8%, Nikola fell more than 7%, and Azera dropped nearly 7%.
Biotech stocks PACB fell more than 8% and NVTA fell more than 7%. The semiconductor index closed roughly flat, with CREE and BRKS down more than 2%, offsetting the likes of Nvidia and Intel. Marijuana stocks were generally lower, with Tilray down more than 6%. Photovoltaic stocks were down, with SPWR down more than 8%, SHLS down more than 7%, and JKS down about 5%. Infrastructure stocks were down, with BLD and PRIM down about 3.5%.
Top Chinese stocks lost ground, with Chinese ETFs KWEB and CQQQ down nearly 4% and more than 2%, respectively. Among the stocks, the new shares of United Generation Technology closed up more than 110% on the next day of listing, continuing the performance of the first day of listing in the U.S. on Tuesday rose more than 870%, Doodle Smart rose more than 2%, while Tiger Securities fell more than 8%, Tencent ADR fell more than 7%, Poundland fell nearly 7%, Beili Beili fell more than 6%, Alibaba, Jingdong fell more than 2%, Baidu fell 2%.
In the European market, the two-day streak of pan-European stock index fell slightly, still close to record highs, health care and technology sectors led the decline, the French power giant EDF rose 10%, the best performance in the constituent stocks. Among European countries, only British stocks, which benefit from a weaker pound and a boost in vaccinations, closed higher.
10-year U.S. bond yields hit another intraday low of more than a week, stopping falling and turning up after the release of the Fed minutes
U.S. Treasury bond prices rose and then fell during the session on Wednesday. U.S. 10-year benchmark Treasury yields in Wednesday before the European shares once fell to 1.63% below, refreshing more than a week to a new intraday low, the day fell by more than 3 basis points, European shares in the day to erase all the decline to rise, U.S. stocks before the day had risen above 1.67% to a new daily high, the day rose by more than 1 basis point, U.S. stocks in early trading and turn down, once fell to 1.64% below, lunchtime continued to rise, the day’s decline narrowed.
After the release of the Fed minutes, the 10-year U.S. bond yields further upward, has regained 1.65% and 1.66%, and in late trading once rose above 1.67% to refresh the daily high, the intra-day rise again more than 1 basis point.
By the end of the day, the 10-year U.S. bond yield was about 1.67%, up 1 basis point during the day; 30-year U.S. bond yield was 2.35%, up 3 basis points during the day; 2-year U.S. bond yield was 0.15%, down less than 1 basis point during the day.
European government bond prices rose on Wednesday. British 10-year benchmark bond yields fell 2 basis points to 0.77%; German bond yields fell 1 basis point to -0.33% during the same period, giving back Tuesday’s gains.
The dollar index hit another two-week low after the release of the Fed minutes angled to the upside Bitcoin once fell more than $3,000 Ether fell more than 9% during the day
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which tracks the exchange rate of a basket of six major U.S. dollar currencies, fell most of the time during the European session, with U.S. stocks falling below 92.14 in early trading, hitting a new intraday low for the second consecutive day since March 23, down more than 0.2% during the day, U.S. stocks at lunchtime, almost flat before the release of the Fed minutes, and continued to move up after the release of the minutes, closing close to 92.50 to refresh the daily high, up nearly 0.18% during the day .
By Wednesday’s U.S. stock market close, the dollar index was above 92.40, up less than 0.1% intraday; the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%, off a two-week low.
Mainstream cryptocurrencies fell across the board on Wednesday. Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $55,500 at one point in U.S. midday trading, down more than $3,200 from its intraday high in Asian midday trading, and closed the U.S. session below $56,300, down nearly 4% in the last 24 hours.
Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization, nearly fell below $1,930 before the U.S. stock market, down more than 9% from the intraday high of $2,100, which was near a record high set on Tuesday, and closed below $1,990 in the U.S. stock market, down more than 6% in 24 hours.
Copper ended a three-day positive streak falling off a two-week high at $9,000 Gold fell off a more than five-week high, the first decline in five days
Most London base metals futures fell on Wednesday, with zinc and lead closing higher after only two days of gains, hitting two-week and one-month highs, respectively. Copper, aluminum and nickel ended a three-day streak of gains, and copper, which had just regained $9,000 on Tuesday, lost that mark and fell off a two-week high, closing down nearly 1.5 percent, the largest closing decline in the last seven trading days. Nickel and aluminum fell to one-month and one-week highs, respectively. Tin fell to a two-week high.
Gold and platinum futures in New York, which had risen for four days, retreated. Gold futures fell nearly 0.7% on Wednesday when U.S. stocks set a new daily low before the bell. U.S. stocks opened with a significantly narrower loss, and although U.S. stocks had turned up briefly in early trading, they eventually closed down about 0.1%, falling off the closing high for the main contract set on Tuesday since Feb. 25. As of this week II gold hit the longest streak of rising days since February 10. But New York silver futures rose for two days in a row, closing slightly up 0.08% on Wednesday.
Recent Comments