S&P 500, Nasdaq at near five-month lows

FE Team | Published: October 23, 2023 23:23:40

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touched near five-month lows on Monday as the yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note hit the crucial 5 per cent mark, while investors awaited earnings from the world's largest technology companies and key economic data, reports Reuters.
The yield on the 10-year note touched the July 2007 milestone that it briefly attempted to scale last week. It was last at 4.9758 per cent. Yields on the 2-year and 30-year notes also rose.
"This continued (economic) strength has cast doubt over whether interest rates really have peaked, even if the Fed does still look very likely to leave rates unchanged," said Rupert Thompson, chief economist at Kingswood Group.
"Upward pressure on yields has also comes from increased concern over the large amount of government debt needing to be absorbed by the market."
The S&P 500 slipped below 4,200 points, a technical level that markets believe could trigger further losses towards the 4,000 level.
Focus will remain on the largely positive earnings season. Four of the 'Magnificent Seven', which have helped power the S&P 500 higher in 2023 while the other indexes lagged, report later this week.
Of the 86 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far in the third quarter, 78 per cent have been above analysts' estimates, according to the LSEG data.
Chipmaker Intel, oil major Exxon Mobil, General Motors are among other major companies set to report results this week.
Investors also kept tabs on tensions in the Middle East after Israel bombarded Gaza and also struck southern Lebanon overnight, in signs that the conflict was spreading.
US GDP print, expected on Thursday, will be closely monitored amid expectations that the economy expanded at a robust 4.2 per cent in the third quarter, which might warrant tighter monetary policy.