Opening Bell: U.S. Futures Fluctuate; Yields And Dollar Rally, But Oil Slides

 | May 04, 2021 07:03

  • Inflation concerns persist
  • Pressure on tech sector
  • Dollar recovers
  • Key Events/h2

    Futures on the Dow, S&P, NASDAQ and Russell 2000 as well as European shares paused on Tuesday, ahead of the US session open as traders remain on high alert after Monday's technology sector selloff.

    Bitcoin faltered and we expect it to continue to retreat.

    Global Financial Affairs/h2

    Tech giants including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) dragged the NASDAQ 100 lower on Monday while the Dow and S&P closed higher as investors moved into stocks that are expected to benefit from the economic reopening.

    Although the FTSE 100 was in the green, the STOXX 600, a broad measure of European shares was trading lower.

    Analysts are forecasting that UK stocks Mohamed El-Erian warn that any of the recent increases in prices are not transitory.

    S&P 500 tech and retail firms underperformed while commodity and industrial stocks outperformed. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) advanced as the White House said it will help it export American made coronavirus inoculations, and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) climbed after agreeing to provide up to 500 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to the global vaccination program, COVAX. Skin care and makeup company Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) sold off after missing earnings estimates.

    Yields on the 10-year Treasury note are slightly higher today, along with the expectation of higher inflation, and therefore higher rates. Investors are aware of comments from Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Kaplan on Friday, who broke ranks with the Fed boss by insisting that the US central bank should begin to discuss tapering its balance sheet, as well as raising rates earlier than it has said. Still, from a technical perspective, rates face resistance.