By Katy Barnato and Chelsey Dulaney
An array of forces buffeted markets early Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite on course for its first down week in more than a month.
Investors have a lot to contend with. There's a possible government shutdown. Rising yields in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's Wednesday meeting. Tariff threats by Donald Trump against Europe. And disappointing trial results for Novo Nordisk, which sent the Ozempic-maker's shares into a tailspin.
As in 2022, rising rates are making markets look expensive, said Florian Ielpo, head of macro research at Lombard Odier Investment Managers, while shutdown fears also hit sentiment.
"Markets are still digesting the hawkish cut" made Wednesday by the Fed, Ielpo said. "The better growth and higher inflation prospects are essentially driving yields up, and this move is taking equities down."
In recent trading:
Major U.S. indexes fell. The Nasdaq led the way lower, shedding nearly 1%. The S&P 500 was down less than 0.5% and the Dow industrials were narrowly lower after snapping a 10-session losing streak Thursday.
Global tech stocks came under pressure, including European chip stocks like ASML and Infineon, and Taiwan's TSMC. U.S. firms such as Amazon, Microsoft and Nvidia sold off.
Europe's benchmark Stoxx 600 fell more than 1.5%, hit with Novo Nordisk's selloff, and Trump's threat of tariffs unless the European Union buys large amounts of U.S. oil and gas.
Benchmark Treasury yields declined, after climbing for two days to settle at 4.569% Thursday.
Bitcoin prices sank below $95,000, weighing on stocks such as Coinbase, MicroStrategy and Robinhood. Earlier this week, the cryptocurrency reached a record high above $108,000.
Write to Katy Barnato at katy.barnato@wsj.com and Chelsey Dulaney at chelsey.dulaney@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 20, 2024 09:41 ET (14:41 GMT)
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