Stocks Fall From Records as Rate Bets Boost Dollar

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks capped the worst day since January as the bullish tone on global financial markets evaporated amid speculation the torrid run that's taken stocks to near-daily all-time highs has gone too far. The dollar bucked the trend as bets increased that the Federal Reserve will raise rates in two weeks.

The S&P 500's 0.6 percent slide was the biggest since Jan. 30 and comes after a 1.4 percent surge that was its best run of the year. Banks led declines after reaching the highest level since 2007. The Dow Jones Industrial Average capped only its second retreat in 15 days after topping 21,000 for the first time. Gold fell and silver sank as inflation showed signs of accelerating, while Treasury yield rose back toward 2.5 percent. Dollar bulls remained active, sending the greenback to its longest winning streak since May.

The dollar's advance and declines in gold and Treasuries lined up with increasing odds for tighter monetary policy, which got a boost as Lael Brainard became the latest Fed official to support the case for tightening “soon.” Rallies in equities and commodities predicated on stronger economic growth failed to keep pace even as reports showed a pickup in European inflation and a tighter U.S. jobs market. Rate doves got some cover as the Atlanta Fed lowered its GDPNow forecast to 1.8 percent amid slower consumer spending growth.

Read our Markets Live blog this week.

Upcoming events that traders are looking out for:

• Janet Yellen gives an address on the economic outlook on Friday in Chicago.
• The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body of more than 2,000 political elites, business executives and others, opens its annual session in Beijing on March 3.

Here are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 Index fell 0.6 percent to 2,381.76 as of 4 p.m. in New York, after briefly climbing above 2,400 for the first time on Wednesday.
• Snap Inc. closed at $24.48 after making its market debut, 44 percent higher than its $17 offering price.
• Bank shares sank 1.5 percent, while materials producers lost 1.1 percent.
• The Dow slipped to 21,001.6
• The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell less than one point, slipping from a 15-month high hit earlier in the session. 
• Asian shares surged. Tokyo stocks jumped to the highest since December 2015, Australia's benchmark rose 1.3 percent, the most since November and the Jakarta Composite Index had its biggest advance this year. 

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index added 0.5 percent, climbing for a fifth straight day. It's at the highest level since Jan. 20.
• Canada's dollar weakened 0.5 percent as crude slipped, overshadowing faster-than-forecast economic growth last quarter.
• The euro slipped for a third day, falling 0.4 percent to $1.0506.
• The yen fell 0.6 percent to 114.39 per dollar, after declining 0.9 percent Wednesday.

Bonds

• Yields on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 2.48 percent, after climbing six basis points Wednesday.
• A record number of fed funds futures changed hands Wednesday as traders moved to guard against a rate increase in two weeks.
• France's 10-year bonds outperformed their German peers for a second day as investors looked past political risk and showed strong demand at an auction of 50-year debt.
• German 10-year yields rose four basis points to 0.32 percent, the highest since Feb. 16.

Commodities

• Gold dropped by the most in three months, losing 1.4 percent to settle at $1,232.90 an ounce in New York. The metal was at the highest level in more than three months on Feb. 24. 
• Silver tumbled 3.9 percent and copper futures lost 1.7 percent to $2.6905 an ounce.
• Oil retreated for a third day, its longest slide in two months, as record-high U.S. stockpiles were seen jeopardizing OPEC's efforts to drain a global surplus. 
• West Texas Intermediate oil retreated 2.2 percent to $52.67 a barrel.

--With assistance from Grant Smith Mark Burton and Luke Kawa

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Herron in New York at jherron8@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Robert Brand