Market Wrap – Tech stocks drop

The mood during the US session dampened as the bond market started to rethink the turmoil in the banking sector. The bond market caused a sell-off in the US dollar.

Basically, investors were beginning to reassess the view that high interest rates hikes are good for banks because they mean higher net interest margins.

Nasdaq was struggling for the second day and was down by nearly 1% lower. The laggards are Google and chipmakers Micron, Nvidia and Qualcomm, all down more than 2%.

Gold has been a great proxy for risk in the banking industry lately. When gold starts to fall its normally a sign of improved sentiment towards the fragilities in the financial sector.

So today gold gained as the negative sentiment came back, with the yellow metal trading back towards the $1,970 area. Gold took a short-lived dip towards the $1,940 area on Monday.

The price of Bitcoin moved in a different direction as the fall in the Nasdaq and sentiment towards tech stocks was hit. Also, a lawsuit against the crypto exchange Binance hit crypto wide sentiment.

Data from the US was fairly solid this afternoon as Wholesale inventories in the US increased 0.2% month-over-month in February of 2023, rebounding from an upwardly revised 0.5% drop in January, preliminary estimates showed.

Inventories were up 0.6% for durables, after a 0.2% drop while those for nondurables decreased 0.4%, following a 1.1% decline in January. Compared to a year earlier, wholesale inventories jumped 12.2%.

Consumer confidence beat expectation with an 104.2 reading for March. The prior reading was 102.9. The Present situation index fell to 151.1 vs 153.0 prior, while the Expectations index ticked up to 73.0 vs 69.7 prior.

Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director, Economics at The Conference Board, said the reading was “Driven by an uptick in expectations, consumer confidence improved somewhat in March, but remains below the average level seen in 2022 (104.5).”

He added that “The gain reflects an improved outlook for consumers under 55 years of age and for households earning $50,000 and over.”