NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) – Tech giants led losses Friday, like Nvidia and Meta Platforms down over 3.5 per cent. The S&P 500 erased this week’s gain, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped almost 2 per cent.
A gauge of chipmakers sank on a news report that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has asked major suppliers to delay shipment of high-end equipment. Ford and General Motors whipsawed. Treasury yields rose. The dollar was little changed.
Wall Street’s widely watched equity-volatility gauge – the VIX – climbed from the lowest level since 2020.
Piles of derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures expired Friday – compelling traders to roll over their existing positions or to start new ones. This time, it coincided with the rebalancing of benchmark indexes including the S&P 500, another catalyst for more share transactions.
“Options expiration forces people to adjust their positions, and this is an especially powerful expiration that can add fuel to market moves,” said Callie Cox at eToro. “This is especially prevalent in individual stocks, where trading in the shares and options can be thin. Brace for swings, but try not to tap out of this market until we see convincing evidence of a recession.”
From a fundamental standpoint, the challenges the labour market is facing – with the United Auto Worker strike and looming government shutdown being the two biggest – are concerning for markets,” according to Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
“If the strike expands, investors can expect to see an impact on the broad economy and pressure on supply chains and corporate profit margins,” he noted.
To Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets, while the Fed will likely not respond to a single strike, “the overall paradigm of workers demanding persistently higher wages presents another dynamic that will keep rates higher for longer in an effort to continue to moderate labour demand.”
US inflation expectations fell to the lowest in more than two years as consumers grew more optimistic about the economic outlook. Even so, sentiment fell to 67.7 – below the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. A measure of New York state factory activity unexpectedly expanded amid new orders. Production at factories barely rose in August, restrained by a drop in output of motor vehicles.
A resilient US economy will prompt the Fed to pencil in one more interest-rate increase this year and stay at the peak level next year for longer than previously expected, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Equity funds saw the biggest weekly inflow in 18 months amid growing investor confidence the US economy is headed for a soft landing, according to Bank of America.
Global stocks attracted USD25.3 billion in the week to September 13 – the most since March 2022 – according to EPFR Global data cited by BofA. But amid the renewed optimism on the US economy, strategist Michael Hartnett sees a bearish broader picture, with cash and Treasuries having attracted the bulk of inflows and both asset classes on track for a record year.
