Asia stocks eye mixed open; Yields, dollar jumped
Asian stocks looked set for a mixed start Tuesday after Treasury yields and the dollar jumped as Jerome Powell's renomination to head the Federal Reserve fueled bets on quicker policy tightening.
Australian equities rose and futures for Hong Kong fell. Japan is closed for a holiday. U.S. futures nudged higher after the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ ended in the red and the $Nasdaq (NDAQ.US)$ underperformed after a final-hour selloff in technology shares in the Wall Street session.
Wall Street breathes sigh of relief as Powell gets second Fed term
President Joe Biden announced Monday that he is renominating Jerome Powell for a second term as Federal Reserve chair and will put forth Fed Governor Lael Brainard as vice chairman. The move comes after weeks of speculation that Brainard might get the nod.
Selloff in highly priced tech stocks is pressuring hedge funds that piled in
Losses are picking up in very-high-priced technology stocks that had recently grown in popularity among hedge funds.
$Farfetch (FTCH.US)$ and $Snowflake (SNOW.US)$ fell, driving a basket of software and internet companies that have yet to earn any money down more than 5%, its biggest decline since March, data compiled by $Goldman Sachs (GS.US)$ show. That's bad news for hedge funds who just boosted exposure to high-growth, high-valuation stocks to extreme levels.
Bitcoin is selling off while some smaller altcoins hang tough
The biggest cryptocurrencies have been mired in a selloff over the past week that's seen Bitcoin approaching a 20% correction from its recent record. Ether, the second-largest digital asset by market value, is down 8% from its Nov. 10 high.
While Z-Cash is up roughly 30% since the start of November. The Avalanche token also is holding up well, gaining about 50% over the past seven sessions, while the CRO has advanced enough to become the 13th-largest by market capitalization, which has ballooned to $18 billion.
Apple posts longest rally since July as tech broadly falls
$Apple (AAPL.US)$ shares closed at a record high on Monday. The stock rose as much as 3.2% but pared much of that advance in afternoon trading, ending with a gain of 0.3%.
The company was an outlier among tech stocks, which opened broadly higher but subsequently turned negative, amid a widespread rotation out of high-valuation growth names. $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ hit an intraday record in early trading but closed down 1%. $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ also opened in solidly positive territory but ended down 3.1%.
Zoom beats estimates even as revenue growth is poised to slow after pandemic
$Zoom Communications (ZM.US)$ reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Monday, while warning investors of a revenue slowdown at the video-chat company as the pandemic comes to an end.
Revenue increased 35% from a year earlier in the quarter, which ended Oct. 31, slowing from 54% growth in the prior period. Net income jumped 71% to $340.3 million, according to a statement.
Cathie Wood's genomics fund is down 27% and outflows are growing
Investors appear to be losing patience with $ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG.US)$.
It has seen roughly $520 million of outflows in November amid sinking returns. The fund is down 27% year-to-date as investors shun health-care stocks in favor for more cyclical names that perform well during an economic recovery. Even so, the ETF is faring far worse than the broader biotech sector, with the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index up 10.49% this year.
Walmart looks to grab consumers' attention with star-studded online shopping events
$Walmart (WMT.US)$ will host more than 30 livestreaming events in November and December, including one with musician Jason Derulo that will kick off Cyber Week. Chief Marketing Officer William White said the shoppable events can help "shorten the distance between inspiration and purchase."
The big-box retailer could use the strategy to drive more online sales, especially as consumers return to stores.
Source: Bloomberg, CNBC