The main US stock market indices opened on a largely negative note on Friday as declining chipmaker stocks like AMD and Micron Technology dragged S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lower.
Nasdaq shed over 340 at open and later breached passed the day's low of 26,309 level after falling nearly 2%. S&P 500 slumped 0.72% to open at 7,529.90, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed at open but slipped 0.16% to 51,483.72 shortly after.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices traded nearly 5% lower at around $497 levels, Micron Technology Inc. plunged 6% to a low of $945.47, Bellwether Nvidia Corp.was down nearly 3% at $212.86.
Broadcom Inc.'s lower than anticipated FY27 AI revenue forecast had triggered a chipstock selloff on Thursday, with the stock sinking as much as 16%. On Friday, the stock fell 5% to $400.
A robust Jobs data also weighed on the benchmark indices as it fuelled possibilities of a Federal Reserve rate hike. Job growth in America exceeded all expectations with nonfarm payrolls increasing to 172,000 and the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3%.
The jobs data, while indicating a healthy growth in the economy, comes as a double whammy for wall street investors in the face of an already spiking inflation caused by global energy disruption.
“Our base case remains that the Fed stays on hold through 2026, but if employment data continues to track around May's pace, rate hikes this year would come firmly into play," Seema Shah from Principal Asset Management told Bloomberg.
In Jerome Powell's last FOMC decision, federal funds rates were held steady in the range of 3.5%–3.75%, with the Fed's outlook shifting from "mildly restrictive" or on the "high-end" of neutral.
US Treasury Yields rose on increased Fed rate hike bets with 10-year Treasuries advancing six basis points to 4.53% and 2-year Treasuries advancing nine basis points to 4.13%
On the currencies front, Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%, euro fell 0.2% to $1.1584, British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3405, and Japanese yen was little changed at 160.14 per dollar.
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