ALBAWABA – With the United States (US) Federal Reserve airing their divide on the next step in the battle to curb inflation, US stocks fell on Wednesday as Treasury bond yields surged to multi-year peaks, news agencies reported.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note rose to the highest level since 2008, at 4.26 percent, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The S&P 500 was down 0.36 percent to 4,422, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.44 percent to 13,571.21 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.18 percent to 34,884.42, as reported by Reuters.
Meanwhile, AFP reported the broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.8 percent by Thursday.
Earlier, European markets closed mixed with Paris down 0.1 percent, London down 0.4 percent but Frankfurt up 0.1 percent, according to the France-based news agency.
More so, the United Kingdom’s (UK) pound Sterling strengthened on the release of data showing headline UK inflation had dipped to a 15-month low.
Bank shares extended losses, according to Reuters, with the S&P 500 bank index down 0.9 percent. Bank of America fell 1.9 percent, leading losses among bigger banks.
Target shares gained 3.3 percent after the big-box retailer's second-quarter profit beat estimates, overshadowing its annual forecast cut.
Equities have suffered through a rough patch in August, with the S&P 500 languishing near one-month lows as official data underscores sticky inflation and a robust economy fans yet higher interest rates.
Nvidia was down 0.12 percent after gains in the last two sessions, as two more brokerages raised their price targets on the stock ahead of the chip designer's quarterly results next week.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by almost two-to-one, or exactly 1.9-to-one, Reuters reported.
Key US stocks figures and other indexes and markets by AFP
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 34,765.74 (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.8 percent at 4,404.33 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 1.2 percent at 13,474.63 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 7,356.88 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 15,789.45 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,260.25 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 4,284.27 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 18,329.30 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,150.13 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.5 percent at 31,766.82 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0880 from $1.0905 at 2100 GMT on Tuesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2725 from $1.2705
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.48 pence from 85.83 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 146.33 from 145.57 yen
