The Daily Chase: Ongoing rout in tech stocks; No quick fix to housing woes
BNN Bloomberg
It’s looking like tech stocks are going to get punished at the start of trading as investors push up bond yields in anticipation of central banks raising rates to contain inflation.
It’s looking like tech stocks are going to get punished at the start of trading as investors push up bond yields in anticipation of central banks raising rates to contain inflation. Futures are pointing to a sharply lower open for the Nasdaq Composite Index, which has already slid six per cent since the start of the year. Meanwhile, the U.S. 10-year treasury yield has climbed to 1.854 per cent, which is the highest since January 2020. And the yield on 10-year Government of Canada bonds pushed through 1.8 per cent today for the first time since November amid a widening view that the Bank of Canada will raise its benchmark rate next week. Market data is now putting the odds of a hike on Jan. 26 at 71 per cent. But as CIBC’s Benjamin Tal explained to us yesterday, it’s no slam dunk given the “madness” that our central bank is navigating.
NO QUICK HOUSING FIX
As if we needed to be reminded about that, we’ve got data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showing the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts plunged 22 per cent in December to 236,106. The pace of activity in Ontario was nearly cut in half.
MICROSOFT BULKS UP IN GAMING
The maker of Xbox video game consoles is loading up on games themselves. Microsoft announced this morning it struck a deal to buy Activision Blizzard for almost US$70 billion in cash. In a release, Microsoft pointed out the deal will also serve as “building blocks” for its entry into the metaverse. Activision is home to some of the best known franchises in gaming, including Call of Duty. It should also be pointed out here that it was the subject of a misconduct scandal last year.
TOURMALINE DISHING OUT MORE CASH
