(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
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* GM restores quarterly dividend after more than two years
* Deere shares drop after earnings miss
* Bed Bath & Beyond extends fall after Cohen dumps stake
* Futures down: Dow 0.57%, S&P 0.90%, Nasdaq 1.45%
Aug 19 (Reuters) – Wall Street fell on Friday with megacap
growth and technology stocks leading a broader market selloff as
rate hike worries sapped risk appetite.
Stocks have wavered this week after minutes from the U.S.
Federal Reserve’s July meeting were released on Wednesday, as
investors tried to get an accurate reading of the central bank’s
monetary policy tightening path.
The blue-chip Dow was on track to post slim weekly
gains, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were
headed for their first weekly loss after four straight weeks of
gains.
“Lot of individual not so great news here today and it’s
just manifesting in an overall market selloff,” said Dennis
Dick, retail trader at Triple D Trading, pointing to weak
results from Deere & Co, inflation numbers in Germany and
a selloff in meme stocks and cryptocurrencies.
“You’re getting a little bit of profit taking (after) a
pretty good run for the last six weeks.”
Deere fell 2.8% after it missed earnings estimates as the
world’s largest heavy equipment maker continues to grapple with
parts shortages stemming from supply chain snarls.
The S&P 500 industrials sector fell 1%.
High-growth and technology stocks such as Amazon.com Inc
and Alphabet Inc declined nearly 2% as U.S.
Treasury bond yields climbed, mimicking European bonds after
Germany reported record-high increases in monthly producer
prices.
Banks also fell 1.3% and were on track to end the
week lower, potentially snapping their six-week winning streak.
Meanwhile, Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin
said on Friday the U.S. central bank’s efforts to control
inflation could lead to a recession, but it needn’t be
“calamitous”.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Thursday he
was leaning toward supporting a third straight 75-basis-point
rate hike in September, while San Francisco Fed colleague Mary
Daly said hiking rates by 50 or 75 basis points next month would
be “reasonable”.
At 09:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down
192.74 points, or 0.57%, at 33,806.30, the S&P 500 was down
38.75 points, or 0.90%, at 4,244.99, and the Nasdaq Composite
was down 187.97 points, or 1.45%, at 12,777.37.
The Fed has raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by
225 bps since March to fight four decade-high inflation.
Focus next week will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech
on economic outlook at the annual global central bankers’
conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks dropped
following a sudden selloff in bitcoin, with crypto exchange
Coinbase Global and miner Marathon Digital
down 8.5% and 11.5%, respectively.
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc plunged 41.1% as billionaire
investor Ryan Cohen exited the struggling home goods retailer by
selling his stake.
General Motors Co rose 1.8% after it said it would
reinstate quarterly dividend payouts.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 7.56-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 5.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and 29 new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 10 new highs and 35 new lows.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru;
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)