More swings in the bond market rattled stock markets around the world on Thursday, though the moves were relatively modest on Wall Street after US bond yields cranked higher but then gave back the gains later in the day.
- The S&P 500 rose 14.91 points, or 0.2%, to 7,666.45, breaking a three-day losing streak.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.51 points, or less than 0.1%, to 50,926.56.
- The Nasdaq composite rose 10.53 points, or less than 0.1%, to 26,871.60.
The moves were more dramatic in Europe, where stock indexes tumbled 1.7% in London, 1.6% in Paris, and 1% in Frankfurt, the
AP reports. They were hurt by sharp moves for bond yields on that side of the Atlantic.
Yields are on the rise for a range of reasons, including worries about high inflation and oil prices, signals that the US economy remains solid and governments' insistence to continue to spend much more money than they bring in. Those worries don't look to be going away anytime soon, and oil prices climbed again Thursday to keep the pressure up on inflation. The price for a barrel of Brent crude leaped 4.3% to $102.24 for its latest yo-yo move on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global oil industry to return to normal. Further reports also signaled the US economy is powering through its many challenges. Fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, which could mean companies are laying off fewer workers.
- A separate report on Thursday said growth for US manufacturing also continued in September. Potentially more concerning in that report from the Institute for Supply Management was that increases in prices accelerated, which could mean further pressure on inflation.
High yields can hurt real-estate owners in particular. Not only do they raise the cost of borrowing, they can also make investors looking for income leave real-estate stocks and their dividends for bonds. BXP, which owns office buildings around the country, sank 1.4%. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, which owns campuses for life sciences companies, fell 1%.
- Helping to counteract such losses were gains for stocks benefiting from the boom around artificial-intelligence technology. Optimism rose after Micron Technology delivered a stronger profit report for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Micron also said growth is strengthening, and it gave forecasts for upcoming profit and revenue that topped analysts' estimates because of the AI boom. Micron's stock rose 3% to bring its stellar gain for the year so far to nearly 280%. Elsewhere in AI, Nvidia added 1.1% and was the single strongest force lifting the S&P 500, while Applied Materials rose 3.5%.
- Outside of tech, Accenture leaped 16% after the consulting and services company reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It saw growth around the world, from the Americas to Asia.
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