ASX set to dip, tech stocks weigh on Wall Street

A broad sell-off in technology companies pulled stocks lower on Wall Street, capping off the market’s worst week since late June.

The S&P 500 fell 1.1 per cent. Its roughly 2 per cent drop for the week wiped out its gains from last week, when it set an all-time high.

The Nasdaq composite, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, sank 2.1 per cent and posted its first weekly loss in five weeks and its worst since June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average held up better, closing 0.3 per cent lower.

The Australian sharemarket is set to edge lower, with futures pointing to a loss of 11 points or 0.1 per cent, at the open. The Australian dollar was trading at US69.57¢.

Slightly more than half of the stocks in the S&P 500 fell, but all but seven of the 75 stocks in the index’s tech sector closed lower. Among the biggest decliners were chip companies, reflecting mounting worries about how long the frenzy over the AI buildout will last.

Micron Technology fell 5.6 per cent, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 6 per cent, Broadcom lost 4.5 per cent and Intel gave up 5.8 per cent.

Among the other tech companies that finished in the red were Meta, which fell 3.7 per cent, and Google parent Alphabet, which dropped 2.5 per cent.

It’s been a choppy week for chipmakers and other big tech stocks central to the artificial intelligence industry. Investors are now worried that the companies, which have relied on debt markets to finance an investment spree into their technology, may not be able to keep borrowing and spending as heavily with yields in bond markets worldwide recently climbing to their highest levels in years.

Netflix’s stock fell 2.9 per cent a day after the company announced that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria will be replaced by Peter Rice. The news comes just days after Netflix said that it plans to lay off about 6 per cent of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1,000 positions.

Energy stocks held up better than most. Exxon rose 2.5 per cent and Chevron added 2.6 per cent.

European and Asian markets closed higher.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 5.09 per cent from 5.10 per cent late Thursday. It had topped 5.30 per cent earlier this month and touched its highest level since 2002 because of worries about high inflation, signals of a strong U.S. economy and other factors.

Yields are down despite reports this week showing that inflation at the consumer and wholesale level rose more in the U.S. than economists expected.

The reports could persuade the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve to hike their key interest rate before the end of this year. The central bank increased its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9 per cent in September, its first increase in three years.

Wall Street traders expect the Fed will keep its short-term rate unchanged at its policy meeting this month, but the odds of a rate increase at the December meeting have jumped to 74.3 per cent from 50.2 per cent a month ago, according to data from the CME Group.

On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh offered no fresh signals about potential interest rate policy moves by the Fed while attending a meeting of financial leaders in Bangkok.

Elsewhere in the market, shares in Tesla fell 2.1 per cent after the electric vehicle company unveiled a new model of its Roadster sports car that can thrust itself up in the air.

Alcoa rose 2.5 per cent and The Travelers Cos. gained 1.5 per cent after the companies reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street forecasts.

Expectations are high for growth in profits from all kinds of companies this reporting season, which began in earnest this week. That’s what’s allowed U.S. stocks to set records despite high inflation and the many other worries weighing on Wall Street.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 84.62 points to 7,659.44. The Dow dropped 175.28 points to 52,002.41, and the Nasdaq declined 572.99 points to close at 26,140.03.

In energy markets, oil prices remained elevated as the global oil supply continues to be under pressure without a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the Iran war.

Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 3.7 per cent to settle at $US109.86 per barrel. That is up from around $US72 a barrel in late February before the start of the war. Brent climbed into triple digits last month, the first time since July.

The national average for gasoline is at $US4.33 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. While that’s lower than the $US4.37 a gallon that it averaged last month, it’s sharply higher than the $US3.06 a gallon from a year ago.

Oil remains well-supported as uncertainties surrounding the situation in the Middle East and concerns over oil flows in the Strait of Hormuz had the market “pricing in a significant risk premium,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary.

AP

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