Major US equity indices witnessed a flat to a mildly positive opening on Wednesday as investors assessed the impact of the recent surge in the US Treasury bond yields.
Today’s modest rebound followed a sizeable drop on Tuesday, which snapped eight-session winning streak for the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). The selloff was attributed to the 10-year Treasury note’s spike beyond the psychologically important 3% mark to a seven-year high.
Tuesday’s US monthly retail sales data stoked inflation concerns and revived hopes that the Fed would eventually opt to raise interest rates faster than already price in the market, which eventually weighed on riskier assets – like equities.
Meanwhile, fresh North Korean concerns, wherein Pyongyang signalled that its leader, Kim Jong Un, might pull out of next month’s summit with the US President Donald Trump also weighed on investors’ sentiment and collaborated to the subdued trading action during the opening hour of trade.
At the time of writing this report, the DJIA was up around 20-points to 24,730 and the broader S&P 500 Index rose 6-points to 2,717. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained nearly 18-points and rose to 7,369.
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