Nasdaq futures drop about 1% as bond yields spike

[March 18, 2021]  By Shashank Nayar

(Reuters) - Nasdaq 100 futures fell more than 1% on Thursday as bond yields jumped to 14-month highs after the Federal Reserve pledged to look past inflation for a while and keep monetary policy loose through 2023.

Yield-sensitive tech stocks such as Apple Inc, Facebook Inc, Netflix Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp dropped between 0.8% and 1.7% in premarket trading.

The Dow on Wednesday surpassed 33,000 points for the first time after the Fed projected strongest growth in nearly 40 years as the COVID-19 crisis winds down, and repeated its pledge to keep its target interest rate near zero for years to come.

While inflation is expected to exceed the Fed's 2.0% target to 2.4% this year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell views it as a temporary surge that will not change the central bank's stance.

A $1.9 trillion spending stimulus sparked fears of rising inflation that triggered a jump in longer end Treasuries that led a rotation into value stocks at the cost of high-growth tech stocks.

A view of the exterior of the Nasdaq market site in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Big U.S. banks, that are sensitive to economic outlook, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and Goldman Sachs were among the top gainers in early premarket trade.

At 06:26 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 46 points, or 0.14%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 15.75 points, or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 142.75 points, or 1.08%.

(Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

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