U.S. stocks steepened losses as the downturn in chipmakers entered a third day, with investors concerned there’s been a reduction in demand for smartphones. The dollar extended its weekly gain and Treasury yields marched toward 2.95 percent.
Makers or computer chips and hardware tumbled, with Apple Inc. headed for its biggest rout since early February following a downgrade based on its deteriorating outlook in China. The Nasdaq 100 Index was off more than 1.5 percent. General Electric Co. rose on solid results. U.S. Treasury yields pushed to session highs as inflation worries persisted.
American crude bounced back from a decline sparked by Donald Trump’s complaint that prices kept “artificially very high” by OPEC “will not be accepted.” The rally in metals markets stuttered, pushing the Bloomberg Commodity Index down for a second day.
The late-week selloff in equities damped the mood among investors looking to earnings season to break stocks out of a two-month range. While companies that have beaten estimates pushed higher, those that missed were punished far more severely. The chipmaker selloff also highlighted market risks, from a potential slowdown in global growth to the implications of the ongoing trade dust-up between the U.S. and major economies.
While investors debate the cause of the decline in sovereign debt, bond market gauges showed an increase in expectations for U.S. inflation after the recent torrid gains in metals from aluminum to nickel. Trade remains in focus with the U.S. Treasury Department considering using an emergency law to curb Chinese investments in sensitive technologies.
In Europe, a miss by Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, the maker of Durex, dragged down personal and household-goods stocks in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. Telecoms advanced as Ericsson AB surged after first-quarter earnings beat estimates. U.K. shares outperformed as the pound weakened after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney dampened expectations for a rate hike next month.
Most emerging-market currencies weakened against the dollar and developing-nation stocks fell for the first time in four days.
Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent at 3:12 p.m. in New York. The index is higher by 0.2 percent for the week. The Nasdaq 100 sank 1.9 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.1 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 1 percent. Japan’s Topix index added less than 0.1 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.9 percent.