A street sign, Wall Street, is seen outside New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The Nasdaq index was set to open lower on Tuesday as investors continued to move out of megacap growth stocks and into companies that are expected to benefit from the reopening of economies.
Highly valued technology companies including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Facebook Inc (FB.O) fell between 0.6% and 1.7% in premarket trading.
U.S. and European stock markets also saw a sudden 0.5% drop in hefty volumes around 7:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, leaving traders scratching their heads and one calling it a “micro flash crash”. read more
Copious stimulus measures, speedy vaccination drives and the Federal Reserve’s accommodative policy stance have spurred a strong rebound in the U.S. economy and pushed Wall Street to record highs this year. The so-called “pandemic winners”, however, have recently started to fall out of favor.
“While megacap tech companies have been a core part of the solid performance of portfolios throughout the pandemic, we think investors should be careful to avoid overallocation to this part of the market,” Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in a client note.
“In an environment of accelerating growth, we continue to prefer cyclical and value sectors such as financials and energy.”
Planemaker Boeing Co (BA.N) rose 0.2%, while oil major Chevron Corp (CVX.N) gained 0.7%.
At 8:38 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 136 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 22.25 points, or 0.53%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 113 points, or 0.82%.
Among other stocks, Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) rose 1% as it raised its annual sales forecast for the COVID-19 vaccine it co-developed with Germany’s BioNTech SE . read more
CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) gained 1.7% on reporting first-quarter profit above analysts’ estimates and raising its 2021 profit forecast. read more
Dupont (DD.N) edged 0.5% higher after the industrial materials maker raised its full-year profit and revenue forecasts and beat first-quarter expectations. read more
First-quarter earnings have been largely upbeat. Average profits at S&P 500 companies are expected to have risen 46% in the quarter, compared with forecasts of a 24% growth at the start of April, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Investors also awaited data through the week, including the Labor Department’s non-farm payrolls data, slated to be released on Friday. The report is expected to show a rise in job additions in April.
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