Stocks May Extend Drop on Fed Tightening Concerns: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks looked set for further declines Monday amid concerns about tightening Federal Reserve policy, while a cryptocurrency plunge highlighted waning appetite for the most speculative investments.

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Futures for Japan, Australia and Hong Kong fell following one of the worst stretches for global shares last week since the onset of the pandemic. The dollar was steady against key peers in early Asian trading.

The Fed on Wednesday is expected to signal a liftoff in interest rates from March and balance-sheet reduction later this year. Ebbing stimulus is forcing a rethink about the economic and market outlook.

How the policy shift will affect fixed income is among the key questions. Treasuries initially slumped at the start of last week before rallying sharply to leave the 10-year yield just above 1.75%.

In the volatile cryptocurrency sector, Bitcoin was trading around $35,000 in the wake of a plunge over the past three days. Digital coins have shed more than $1 trillion in value since a November high.

Aside from the Fed, earnings updates from titans such as Apple Inc. will shape sentiment too following an uneven start to the reporting season. Technology stocks have borne the brunt of an equity selloff this year, while some less richly valued parts of the market have held up better.

There is “likely a longer term rotation toward value stocks measured in quarters, not weeks” unfolding, Julian Emanuel, chief equity and quantitative strategist at Evercore ISI, wrote in a note. He added “investors should retain a balanced view, staying patient in committing new capital to equities.”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists said they see a risk the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy more aggressively this year than the Wall Street bank now anticipates.

A less accommodative Fed is among the reasons why “you have a re-rating going on and certainly a bit of a — excuse the term — puking of some of the higher spec, lower quality segments of the market,” Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co., said on Bloomberg Television.

Elsewhere, a commodities gauge remains near a record level, powered in part by a rally in crude oil that’s helping to stoke global economic price pressures.

Meanwhile, traders are monitoring U.S.-Russia tension over Ukraine. Russia is continuing a military buildup, sending troops and armor to within a few miles of the Ukrainian border in neighboring Belarus for joint military drills that start Feb. 10. Russia denies that it’s planning a further invasion into Ukraine.

For more market analysis, read our MLIV blog.

What to watch this week:

Earnings reports are due from companies including Apple, Boeing, GE, 3M, Deutsche Bank, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics and Tesla
PMIs for Eurozone, France, Germany, U.K. and Australia, Monday
Australia CPI, Tuesday
Federal Reserve rate decision and Chair Jerome Powell news conference, Wednesday
Bank of Canada interest-rate decision, Wednesday
EIA crude oil inventory report, Wednesday
U.S. fourth-quarter GDP growth data, plus U.S. initial jobless claims and durable goods, Thursday
U.S. consumer income, University of Michigan consumer sentiment figures, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The S&P 500 fell 1.9%
The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.8%
Nikkei 225 futures declined 1.3%
S&P/ASX 200 futures shed 0.7%
Hang Seng futures lost 0.9%

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
The euro was at $1.1344
The Japanese yen was at 113.67 per dollar
The offshore yuan was at 6.3430 per dollar

Bonds

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate was at $85.14 a barrel
Gold was at $1,835.38 an ounce

(An earlier version of this story was corrected to show Goldman sees a risk of more aggressive Fed tightening rather than a risk the Fed will tighten at every meeting.)