NEW YORK — Wall Street is holding a bit firmer Monday following its three-week losing streak.
The S&P 500 was 0.7% higher in afternoon trading. Gains Tesla, Microsoft and other Big Tech stocks lifted the index even though the majority of stocks were falling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 8 points, or less than 0.1%, at 34,491 with just under an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.6% higher.
It was a return to form for Tesla and other market behemoths, which have struggled recently under the weight of rising yields in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose again Monday, touching its highest level since 2007 after briefly climbing above 4.34%. That’s up from 4.25% late Friday and from less than 0.60% in 2020.
Higher yields are good for people buying bonds, who get paid more in interest for their investments. But it also makes investors less willing to pay high prices for stocks and other investments that are less steady, particularly technology and other high-growth stocks.
A swift rise for yields globally has shaken stock markets worldwide. It’s added to concerns that stock prices overshot during their strong run earlier this year and that signals keep showing China’s economic recovery is faltering.
POWELL AT JACKSON HOLE
This week’s main economic event is likely to be a speech on Friday by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The Jackson Hole, Wyoming, setting for his speech has been the site of major policy announcements in the past by the Fed, and it’s one of the most important events each year for central bankers globally.
The worry is that Powell will dash investors’ hopes that the Fed has already hiked interest rates for the final time and that its next move will be to cut rates early next year.
The Fed has already pulled its main interest rate to its highest level since 2001 in an effort to grind down high inflation. High rates do that by slowing the entire economy bluntly and hurting prices for investments.
For all the anticipation for Powell’s speech, he may not end up sending a strong signal out of Jackson Hole, according to Goldman Sachs.
In the minutes from its last policy meeting in July, the Fed indicated it was unsure about its next move. It said it will make upcoming decisions on rates based on what incoming data say about inflation and the economy.
A big report on each of those topics is due the week after Powell’s speech. One is the latest update on the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, and the other is the monthly jobs report. “The Fed will likely wait to be informed by these new data before changing their current posture,” Goldman Sachs’ Lexi Kanter and Michael Cahill wrote in a report.
Economists at Bank of America, meanwhile, say there’s a chance Powell will say every upcoming meeting of the Fed has a possibility to see a hike in interest rates given how strong recent economic reports have been.
“We think Powell’s tone at Jackson Hole will be less balanced than the July FOMC minutes,” they wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
The economy has remained resilient despite much higher interest rates. While the solid job market and spending by U.S. households ease long-held worries about a possible recession, they could also add upward pressure on inflation.
NVIDIA STOCK
Another big event for the market will be Nvidia’s profit report scheduled for Wednesday. The chip maker’s stock has flown higher this year, more than tripling on excitement about demand for artificial-intelligence technology.
Nvidia’s report on Wednesday may offer a hint about whether all the furor around it and other AI-related tech stocks was deserved. It rose 7.8% Monday. Microsoft, another AI winner this year, rose 1.9%. They were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.
Tesla, another high-growth stock that’s been hurt recently by the threat of higher rates, rose 7% to recover some of its 11% loss from last week.
Security software maker Palo Alto Networks jumped 15.2% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. The California company reported better profit for the spring than analysts expected.
On the losing end of Wall Street was Nikola, which has recalled more than 200 electric trucks following a couple battery fires. It said it can’t guarantee when it will resume selling the trucks and that it will raise $325 million by selling convertible bonds. It fell 20.2%
Besides the possibility about higher rates for longer, concerns about China’s economic recovery have also weighed on markets globally.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled another 1.8% and is down 12.2% for August so far alone. Stocks also fell 1.2% in Shanghai. China cut a bank lending rate, but the move fell short of what some analysts expected.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Joe McDonald contributed.
