US Stocks Plunge In Broad Rout, Bitcoin Sees Record One-Day Fall

4 min read | May 20, 2021 08:32 AM AEST | By Team Kalkine Media

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US stock markets continued a losing streak on Wednesday, May 19, as losses across all sectors deepened amid a dwindling risk appetite among investors and a sharp decline of cryptocurrencies.

The S&P 500 was down 0.29% to 4,115.68. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.48% to 33,896.04. The NASDAQ Composite Index dropped marginally 0.03% to 13,299.74. The small-cap Russell 2000 shed 0.78% to 2,193.64.

The S&P 500’s key segments tumbled in Wednesday’s session, with financials and materials the biggest losers. Markets have been on a sticky wicket over the past week amid clear signs of economic recovery. Consumer spending has increased, and more jobs have been added in recent weeks. But inflation concerns have calmed the excitement over the progress of the US economy.

Why Did US Stocks Plunge In Broad Rout?

Fed officials stressed the recent spike in consumer prices is temporary and discounted the fears of full-blown inflation in the coming months. Still, the retail investors and money managers appeared not ready to take any chances on risky assets that may wobble in a volatile market.

The Federal Reserve was expected to deliberate on its strategies on employment and interest rates in the light of the April CPI data later in the day. The meeting’s outcome would be of enormous significance for markets in whether they will continue to embrace a bearish outlook. Meanwhile, analysts opine that Fed’s jobs and rate goals may be on a collision path, given the inflationary pressure.

Besides stocks, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum, also saw a record one-day decline in prices since March 2020, falling around 10%, 25%, and 22%, respectively. Two back-to-back developments - Elon Musk's statement that Tesla won’t accept crypto payments and China’s crypto ban on the country’s financial and payment institutions may have triggered their fall.

Also Read: Lowe’s Inc. Revenue Soars 77%, Bolstered By Pandemic-Fuelled Demand

Crypto-exchange Coinbase plunged about 6%, while Silvergate, the bitcoin bank, declined about 3%. Bitcoin miners Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings lost 7.5% and 9.0%, respectively.

Tesla stock fell around 2.4% at the market close. The stocks of Mastercard, PayPal, and Square also declined between 0.6% to 3.0%. Salesforce gained 2.76%, and Shopify was up 2.92%.

Most segments, such as utilities, healthcare, consumer non-cyclicals, real estate, industrials, financials, consumer cyclicals, and basic materials, declined, while energy and tech saw muted gains.

Also Read: BofA Joins Amazon, McDonald’s In Raising Minimum Wage

Top Gainers

Top performers on S&P 500 included Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (6.95%), Enphase Energy Inc (6.66%), Target Corp (6.09%), and Analog Devices Inc (4.96%). On NASDAQ, top performers were MoSys Inc (44.06%), Lianluo Smart Ltd (24.59%), Vera Therapeutics Inc (24.29%), and Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc (23.78%). On Dow Jones, Salesforce.Com Inc (3.27%), Intel Corp (0.95%), Microsoft Corp (0.25%), and Procter & Gamble Co (0.21%) were the leaders.

Top Losers

Top laggards on S&P 500 included Freeport-McMoRan Inc (-6.67%), Nov Inc (-5.34%), TJX Companies Inc (-5.29%), and Progressive Corp (-4.70%). On NASDAQ, Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc (-39.45%), Summer Infant Inc (-33.62%), Sequential Brands Group Inc (-22.66%), and Passage Bio Inc (-17.87%) were the losers. On Dow Jones, Chevron Corp (-2.81%), Nike Inc (-1.92%), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (-1.70%), and Dow Inc (-1.41%) were the laggards.

Volume Movers

Top volume movers were AT&T Inc (27.83M), Apple Inc (21.54M), Ford Motor Co (15.78M), General Electric Co (14.01M), Advanced Micro Devices Inc (12.15M), Bank of America Corp (11.70M), Microsoft Corp (10.08M), Cisco Systems Inc (9.50M), Twitter Inc (9.09M), Advaxis Inc (25.27M), Onconova Therapeutics Inc (15.82M), and Sundial Growers Inc (12.91M).

Also Read: Target’s Stock Up 4% On Strong Q1 Earnings

Futures & Commodities

Gold futures were up 0.11% to US$1,870.00 per ounce. Silver decreased 1.78% to US$27.828 per ounce, while copper was down 3.32% to US$4.5687.

Brent oil futures increased slightly by 0.03% to US$66.66 per barrel and WTI crude declined 3.25% to US$63.37.

Also Read: What do Rising Bond Yields Indicate About the Economy?

Bond Market

The 30-year Treasury bond yields were up 0.47% to 2.375 while the 10-year bond yields increased 2.08% to 1.676.

US Dollar Futures Index was up 0.49% to US$90.172.

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