S&P 500 tumbles under 4500 as hawkish Fed triggered yield rally pressures large cap tech stocks

• Major US equity indices were lower on Wednesday as higher yields put large-cap tech stocks under selling pressure.
• Recent hawkish Fed communications are behind the move higher in yields, with focus now on Fed minutes at 1900BST.
• The S&P 500 fell more than 1.0% to the 4460s from Tuesday’s close at 4525.

Major US equity indices slumped on Wednesday in the hours prior to the release of the minutes of the Fed’s March meeting, with large-cap tech stocks leading the rout amid a continued surge in US bond yields. Hawkish remarks on Tuesday from Fed Vice Chairwoman Lael Brainard was the catalyst for a spike in yields across the US curve. Brainard is typically one of the central bank’s more dovish members but hinted to a more aggressive approach towards QT than markets had been expecting.

All other Fed speakers who have hit the wires over the last few days have all also sounded hawkish and in agreement on the need to 1) get rates quickly back to neutral, 2) begin swift balance sheet reduction. This is very much the expected tone of the upcoming minutes release, scheduled for 1900BST and this could keep maintain upward pressure on US yields. That suggests the major US indices remain at risk of incurring further losses.

The S&P 500 was last trading down 1.3% in the 4460s, having tumbled from Tuesday’s closing levels in the 4520s and, in doing so, fallen back below its 200-Day Moving Average. The main drag on the index is its mega-cap tech stocks including Microsoft (-2.9%), Apple (-2.2%), Nvidia (-5.3%), Facebook (-3.2%), Amazon (-3.2%), Tesla (-4.2%) and Alphabet (-2.0%). Underperformance in these names, as well as in the tech sector more broadly, saw the Nasdaq 100 index drop closer to 2.5%, taking its reversal back from weekly highs to close to 5.0%.

The Dow, meanwhile, was last down a more moderate 0.8%, given its greater weighting towards equity sectors that perform better in an environment of risk-off/higher yields. In terms of the S&P 500 GICS sectors, despite slightly lower oil prices on the day, energy is up over 1.5%, while defense utilities and consumer staples sectors gained 1.0% and 0.5% respectively. Despite the rising yields and growing evidence of a housing market slowdown, real estate was last up 0.4%. The big underperformers were consumer discretionary (-3.0%), information technology (-2.8%) and communication services (-2.0%).