Stocks, futures mixed as bond yields march higher
BNN Bloomberg
Stocks were mixed Monday as traders weighed a global advance in sovereign bond yields and corporate developments.
Stocks were mixed Monday as traders weighed a global advance in sovereign bond yields and corporate developments.
Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index rose, while U.S. futures fluctuated and Asian shares fell. A dollar gauge was little changed and oil slipped. U.S. stock and bond markets are shut Monday for a holiday.
Bond yields rose around the world after U.S. Treasuries tumbled Friday on concerns about more hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve policy to fight inflation. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said Friday the central bank could raise rates as many as seven times, while billionaire investor Bill Ackman argued for a bigger-than-expected 50 basis point move in March to “restore its credibility.”
The advance of the omicron virus strain, the start of the earnings season and a boom in mergers and acquisitions are also coloring sentiment. Investors are looking for signs that corporate profits can help arrest a retreat in global equities led in part by a slide in U.S. technology shares.
“Given the record inflation backdrop and historically tight labor market, investor focus is on margins -- demonstrating pricing power, passing on rising costs to the customer,” Julian Emanuel, chief equity and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note.
Among individual movers on Monday, Unilever Plc shares fell more than seven per cent, while GlaxoSmithKline Plc rose, as the consumer-products company considers making a higher offer for Glaxo’s consumer unit. Equipment maker BE Semiconductor rose to the highest since the stock’s 1995 listing after Oddo and Deutsche Bank boosted their price targets.
