Wall Street’s main indexes slipped on Thursday as a jump in bonds yields, a mixed bag of corporate earnings and a slew of economic data pointing to stubborn inflation kept investors on edge.
Market participants have been keeping a close watch on data as they fear the Federal Reserve may stick to its rate hike path if it fails to bring inflation within its targeted range.
A report on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, while layoffs dropped to an 11-month low in July as labor market conditions remain tight.
Another report showed the U.S. services sector slowed in July, but businesses faced higher prices for inputs as demand continued to hold up, suggesting a long and slow road to low inflation.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark note rose to 4.169% after the data to a nine-month high, extending its climb from a day earlier when Fitch’s downgrade of top-tier U.S. credit rating and strong private employment data supported its upward move.
“The Fed has singled out the jobs market as a potential inflationary threat, and until it shows some signs of deterioration, we’re still looking at a ‘higher for longer’ outlook for interest rates,” said Mike Loewengart, head of Model Portfolio Construction at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.
“That said, the brisk rise in treasury yields in recent days could pose headwinds for rate sensitive large cap growth names that have driven recent market gains.”
Meanwhile, Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin on Thursday said U.S. inflation remained too high, although recent readings indicated an easing of price pressures.
At 10:08 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 63.64 points, or 0.18%, at 35,218.88, the S&P 500 was down 15.69 points, or 0.35%, at 4,497.70, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 30.67 points, or 0.22%, at 13,942.78.
Earnings are also in focus, with Apple and Amazon.com due to report quarterly results after market close.
The megacaps slipped 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively, in early trading.
Of the two-thirds of the S&P 500 companies that have reported so far, 79.9% have topped earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data on Wednesday.
Qualcomm tumbled 10.0% after a gloomy forecast signaled more pain for the largest maker of smartphone chips from the ongoing slump in the consumer electronics market.
PayPal Holdings shed 10.7% as investors were disappointed by the payments firm’s quarterly operating margin, even as executives said they expect improvement towards the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Moderna gained 3.0% as the company raised its annual forecast for COVID-19 vaccine sales to up to $8 billion.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.72-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 29 new highs and 42 new lows.
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