At term, futures were fixed on overnight trading, following a technology route on Wall Street, amid rising bond yields.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose just 30 points, while the S&P 500 futures changed slightly. The Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2%.
All eyes will be on the February job report, which will be released on Friday morning. Economists expect to see 210,000 wages added in February, compared to just 49,000 in January, according to Dow Jones.
The forward move followed a sharp sell-off triggered by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments on rising bond yields. He said the recent launch had caught his attention, but gave no indication of how the central bank would control it. Some investors expected the Fed president to signal a desire to adjust the Fed’s asset purchase schedule.
The economic reopening could “create upward pressure on prices,” Powell told a Wall Street Journal. Even if the economy sees “transient increases in inflation … I expect us to be patient,” he added.
“Translating ‘patient’ to market means that patient never means ‘never’ and that Powell indicates that at some point light money will run out,” said Mike Loewengart, director of investment strategy at E-Commerce Financial. “So while the language isn’t too far from the Fed’s previous position, it’s enough to move a nervous market south.”
The 10-year Treasury yield jumped back more than 1.5% following Powell’s comments. The reference rate stabilized earlier this week, after rising to 1.6% last week, amid higher inflation expectations.
Technological actions have led to a decline in the market, as growth-oriented companies tend to be more vulnerable to higher interest rates. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1% on Thursday, raising its losses this week to 3.6%. Also, the technological benchmark became negative for the year and decreased in the correction territory, or decreased by 10% compared to a recent maximum, on an intraday basis.
The S&P 500 and Dow both fell more than 1% on Thursday, heading for a lost week. Energy outperformed by 2.5% in the previous session amid a jump in oil prices.
“Prices have risen again, which has opened the door for more technology stock sales,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. “The bright part is that the economy continues to improve, and financial and energy leadership is something that suggests this is not a time to sell everything.”