← Go back Aug 08, 2023
Wall Street fell for a third straight day as rising yields in the bond market keep cranking up the pressure. The S&P 500 sank 33.97, or 0.8 per cent, to 4,370.36, and August is on track to be its worst month of the year by far. The Dow Jones dropped 0.8 per cent and the Nasdaq composite fell 1.2 per cent. The Australian sharemarket is set to open lower, with futures at 6.59am AEST pointing to a slide of 28 points, or 0.4 per cent, at the open. The ASX lost 0.7 per cent on Thursday. Wall Street has had an unhappy August. Credit: AP The losses were widespread. Some of the hardest hit were high-growth stocks seen as the most vulnerable to higher interest rates. Meta Platforms sank 3.1 per cent, and Tesla dropped 2.8 per cent. Apple fell 1.5 per cent and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Stocks broadly have been retreating in August following a torrid first seven months of the year. That’s in part because a swift rise in bond yields is forcing a reassessment of how much to pay for stocks. The Australian dollar continued its retreat, falling below 64 US cents. It was 0.3 per cent lower at US64.03¢ at 7.25am AEST. Loading Bitcoin slumped as risk aversion weighs on the cryptocurrency market with global government bond yields climbing to the highest in about 15 years. The largest digital asset by market value was 8.7 per cent lower at $US26,417 ($41,250), extending losses after dropping below $US28,000 for the first time since June 20. The decline was the biggest on an intraday basis since July 14. The 10-year Treasury, which is the centrepiece of the bond market, is now yielding 4.28 per cent after touching its highest level since October in the morning. If it reaches 4.34 per cent, it will be at a level unseen since 2007, according to Tradeweb. That’s before the financial crisis and Great Recession caused yields to collapse to record lows. The 10-year Treasury was yielding less than 0.70 per cent three years ago.
Read more: watoday
