WALL STREET DROPS AS HIGH-FLYING TECH STOCKS BEAT A RETREAT

The Nasdaq ended sharply lower on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, after investors sold high-flying technology shares and pivoted to sectors viewed as more likely to benefit from an economic recovery on the back of fiscal stimulus and vaccination programs, Noel Randewich reported for Reuters.

Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc dropped more than 2%, weighing more than any other stocks on the S&P 500. The S&P 500 financial and industrial sector indexes reached intra-day record highs. Most other S&P 500 sectors declined.

“Today is the perfect encapsulation of the big theme we’ve been seeing in the past couple of months: The vaccine rollout is going well and the economy improving, and that is sending yields and rate expectations higher, which is hurting growth stocks,” said Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield, in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.39% to end at 31,270.09 points, while the S&P 500 lost 1.31% to 3,819.72.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.7% to 12,997.75. That left it at its lowest since early January and reduced its gain in 2021 to less than 1%.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield ticked up to 1.47%, pressuring areas of the market with high valuations. It was still off last week’s peak of above 1.61% that roiled stock markets as investors bet on rising inflation.

Exxon Mobil Corp rose 0.8% after the oil major unveiled plans to grow dividends and curb spending with projections that were less bold than previous years. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.31-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.95-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 62 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 284 new highs and 68 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 14 billion shares, compared with the 14.9 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

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