NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2022) US Big Tech stocks lost almost 5% on Thursday, heading for their worst loss since the coronavirus breakout of 2020, after the US interest rate hike triggered a spike in bond yields reflecting fresh investor worry about the economy.
Wall Street has been in a yo-yo pattern over the past week, plunging to pandemic-era lows then rebounding over the next few sessions amid concerns that the sharpest rate hikes in two decades by the Federal Reserve could push the US economy into recession.
In Thursday's session, the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index - one of the three major US stock indices - was down 604 points, or 4.7%, at 12,361 by 1:45 p.m. ET (17:45 GMT). Prior to this, the Nasdaq's sharpest one-day loss was on May 9, 2020, when it fell more than 7%.
On Wednesday, the Nasdaq, which groups world-famous technology Names such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google,�rose 3.2%.
The S&P 500 Index for the top 500 US stocks was down 3.3%, overwriting the previous session's 3% rally. The broad-based Dow Jones Industrial Average Index was off by 2.9%, after Wednesday's gain of 2.8%.
Investor exodus from stocks came after the yield on benchmark US 10-year Treasury bonds jumped to 3.1%, its highest level since November 2018, reflecting fresh worries over the economy.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its first 50-basis, or half-percentage, point rate hike since 2000 and indicated at least two more increases of such nature in its upcoming meetings. Stocks, however, rallied after that decision as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell assured the nation that the US economy,� particularly the labor market, was strong enough to avert a recession.
