NEW YORK (AFP) – The tech-rich Nasdaq jumped Monday (March 22), leading major equity indices upward, as a retreat in US Treasury yields offset disappointing housing data.
Tech giants such as Facebook and Tesla advanced as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note pulled back from its highest level in more than a year. Fears over rising yields and higher inflation have weighed on tech stocks for much of the first quarter.
Analysts warned Monday’s shift in yields may be fleeting.
“The yield rally has been relentless this year, but sometimes takes small breaks,” said a note from JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade.
The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 1.2 per cent at 13,377.51.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.3 per cent to 32,731.20 while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.7 per cent to 13,377.54.
Investors were cheered by positive US trials for AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine.
But on the downside, sales of existing homes in the United States fell 6.6 per cent in February, a weaker-than-expected showing as tightening inventory pushed prices up and kept buyers away.
Among individual companies, Kansas City Southern shot up 10.8 per cent after agreeing to be acquired by Canadian Pacific Railway in a deal valued at US$29 billion S$38.85 billion) that creates the first rail network linking Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Canadian Pacific dropped 5.8 per cent.
