Japanese, South Korean and Australian shares as well as stock futures for Hong Kong all dropped Thursday following a 0.9% decline for the S&P 500 on Wednesday. The yen edged higher after touching the weakest level against the greenback since July.
Futures for the Nasdaq 100 climbed during Thursday trading in Asia, paring declines for the underlying benchmark in the prior day, after robust earnings from Tesla Inc. provided support for tech stocks. Treasuries opened little changed in Asia after the 10-year yield rose four basis points on Wednesday to the highest level in almost three months.
Traders trimmed bets on the pace of Fed rate reductions, with swap traders less than 100% certain of rate cuts over the two remaining policy meetings this year. The term premium on 10-year Treasury notes — an expression of the extra yield investors demand for owning the debt rather than rolling over shorter-term securities — also hit the highest since November.
“The price of options to hedge against Treasury losses is soaring,” said Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities. “In the US, it is about the election and potential sweep. That is what is being built into the rate structure, which is giving the vigilantes the green light. It will reverse, but it might take a severe employment number or a surprise in the election.”
An index of the dollar was little changed while the yen edged higher after falling 1.1% against the dollar in the prior session, rekindling the prospect of official intervention. Elsewhere, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. halted shipments to a client after discovering that chips made for that client ended up with Huawei Technology Co., potentially violating US sanctions.SK Hynix Inc. posted record quarterly profit and revenue, although its shares fell in early Thursday trading.
Back in the US, big tech climbed in late hours as Tesla kicked off the “Magnificent Seven” earnings season with better-than-estimated results. The carmaker jumped 8% after reporting adjusted earnings above the average analyst estimate. The firm also said it expects to achieve slight growth in vehicle deliveries for the full year.
“Earnings season is heating up,” said David Laut at Abound Financial. “We believe there is continued upside ahead for stocks, especially now that we are entering a seasonally strong period of the year for markets.”
In commodities, oil rose after retreating on Wednesday, as traders assessed tensions in the Middle East and the outlook for market balances heading into 2025. Gold edged higher following its biggest daily drop in 11 weeks.