The BoE raised interest rates by 75bp sending the pound lower and tech adds to its losses as treasury yields trade higher.

The US indices finish lower again in today’s trading session after further stumbles in big tech and treasury yields rise as investors plan on a more hawkish path for rate hikes in the near future.

The Dow Jones was down 0.45%, the Nasdaq fell 1.73% and the S&P 500 fell 1%.

Tech added to its losses from the prior day as the 10-year treasury yields traded close to higher for the year after the Fed hinted that rates will continue to rise higher to tame inflation. John Tyner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, stated in an interview yesterday that “If Apple, Amazon and Microsoft keep going lower, then it’ll be awful hard for the S&P 500 to rise as these companies make up such a large share of the market”.

These moves lower could force the S&P 500 index to about 3,200 which would be well below current levels of roughly 3,716.

In other economic news,  US weekly jobless claims surprisingly fell pointing to a strong labour market prompting hopes for an upside surprise in Friday’s monthly jobs report. Friday’s report could increase the likelihood on a further hawkish approach by the Federal Reserve. Economists estimate that 200,000 new jobs were created last month.

Over in the UK, the Bank of England raised interest rates by 75 basis points as expected, its most in 33 years. Sending the pound back into the trenches. Sterling was already in a decline in early trading hours of Thursday, now trading at £1.11 around 21:31 GMT against the dollar. However, this boosted the FTSE 100 boosting it back to the highs of October (around 7,200).

Oil prices slumped in a delayed reaction to the Fed’s longer vow on rates, London’s Brent and WTI retreated from earlier gains in the week

Beijing was back with juggling its Covid restrictions, a day after speculation that the world’s largest importer could relax on social curbs, who by the way moved from the draining pandemic period.

Brent finished 1.5% lower and WTI finished 2% lower.  

In corporate news:

• Starbucks beat expectations as it reported an EPS of $0.81 with revenue of $8.4 billion.
• PayPal beat expectations by reporting earnings of $1.08 a share on revenue of $6.85 billion, but the company still saw its shares slide 11% as it lowered annual revenue in anticipation of a wider economic downturn which could affect consumer spending.
• Moderna shares also fell as the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings of $2.53 a share on revenue of $3.36 billion.
• ConocoPhillips seen its shares jump over 7% as it raised its equity buyback plan to $45 billion and its quarterly dividend by 11%.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)