Investing.com – Wall Street fell on Friday as investors digested earnings results and rising bond yields weighed eased traders appetite for risk.
The S&P 500 was down over five and a half points or 0.21% to 2,687.49 as of 9:44 AM ET (13:43 GMT) while the Dow composite decreased 55 and a half points or 0.23% to 24,609.19 and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite fell nearly 37 points or 0.52% to 7,00.27.
U.S. bond yields crept back up on Friday, with the United States 2-Year note climbing to its highest level since September 2008, at 2.449. The yield on the United States 10-Year Treasury note rose to 2.938.
Prices fall as bond yields rise. A spike in U.S. Treasury bond yields in February led to a steep decline in equity markets as investors grew concencered that rising inflation could lead to an increase in interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
General Electric (NYSE:GE) was among the biggest gainers, surging 5.58% after its quarterly profit from operations tripled due to its aviation and healthcare business. Honeywell International Inc (NYSE:HON) rose 1.27% after its earnings came in higher than expected. Meanwhile, General Mills (NYSE:GIS) was down 1.04% while Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) gained 3.27%.
Technology stocks took a hit after the morning bell, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) down 0.50%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) falling 2.24% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) down 1.33%. Skechers USA Inc (NYSE:SKX) slumped 26.33% after the company issued lower second-quarter guidance.
In Europe stocks were mixed. Germany’s DAX fell 27 points or 0.22% while in France the CAC 40 increased 12 points or 0.24% and in London, the FTSE 100 was up 25 points or 0.34%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rose five and a half points or 0.16% while Spain’s IBEX 35 inched up seven points or 0.07%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.70% to $1,339.40 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.91% to $67.67 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.48% to 90.07.