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Dip Buyers Fuel Stock Rebound; Treasuries Steady: Markets Wrap

By Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Dip buyers drove a rebound in stocks after an earlier bout of selling pushed the Nasdaq 100 down 10% from a record.

All major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, while the tech-heavy gauge climbed more than 1.5% as giants Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. erased their losses. Robinhood Markets Inc., the trading platform behind the boom-and-bust swing in GameStop Corp.’s shares, has chosen the Nasdaq for its eventual initial public offering, according to a news report. Earlier Friday, equities retreated as U.S. jobs data topped estimates, fueling anxiety the economy could run too hot and kick up inflation. Benchmark 10-year yields stabilized after hitting 1.6%.

Friday’s turnaround in financial markets wiped out the S&P 500’s drop for the week. The intense volatility of the past few days was a test to stock bulls who see the recent spike in Treasury yields as an indication of brighter prospects for the economy and corporate profits. While concern over equity valuations have emerged, several analysts say that as long as data continue to improve, any selloff would present dip-buying opportunities.

“Many investors are going to be buying these dips here, capital continues to be pouring into equities,” said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank. Bond yields are still “incredibly low, so equity yields are still very attractive to investors,” he added.

U.S. Treasury yields have been rising because of a much stronger economic outlook and are not a cause for worry -- or a call to policy action -- said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. His remarks follow Chairman Jerome Powell’s Thursday caution that rising yields had caught his eye and he would be “concerned by disorderly conditions in markets or persistent tightening in financial conditions.”

“As a central banker I am always concerned if there is disorderly trading or something that looks panicky,” Bullard said Friday in an interview with Wharton Business Radio. “That would catch my attention. But I think we are not at that point.”

These are some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • The S&P 500 rose 1.9% at 4 p.m. New York time.
  • The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.8%.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%.
  • The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.6%.

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.4%.
  • The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.1917.
  • The Japanese yen depreciated 0.4% to 108.36 per dollar.

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose less than one basis point to 1.57%.
  • Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.30%.
  • Britain’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to 0.756%.

Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.9% to $66.29 a barrel.
  • Gold rose 0.1% to $1,698.65 an ounce.

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