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Stock Market News for Feb 23, 2021

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U.S. stock markets closed mostly lower on Monday as concerns mounted over rising bond yields. Moreover, market participants also remained watchful ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 closed the day in red while the Dow ended the day in green.

How Did The Benchmarks Perform?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.1%, closing at 31,521.69, continuing its two-day winning streak. Notably, 14 components of the 30-stock index ended in green while 14 finished the day in red and 2 remained unchanged.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day at 13,533.05, down 2.5% or 341.41, reversing its gains from Friday, on the back of weak performance by large-cap technology stocks. The S&P 500 lost 0.8%, closing the day at 3,876.50, continuing five successive days of losses. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) declined 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively. Notably, five out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in the negative zone and six in the green.

The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 6.4% to 23.45. A total of 14.38 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 16.05 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.13-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.63-to-1 ratio favored declining issues.

Rising Bond Yields Raised Concerns

Wall Street closed mostly lower on Monday as investors became concerned about the rising bond yields which negatively impacted the shares of growth stocks. Notably, the 10-year Treasury yield rose around 1.4% on Monday, following a 14 basis points rise last week to the highest level since February 2020. Moreover, the 30-year yield also rose 2.2% on Monday, touching a one-year high.

Consequently, shares of technology behemoths which performed well during the pandemic, like Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) , Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - Free Report) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Free Report) fell nearly 3%, 2.7% and 1.7%, respectively. Notably, Apple carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Markets Await Comments From The Federal Reserve

Market participants also remained watchful ahead of the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s semi-annual testimony on the economy before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

Stock That Have Made Headline

Kinder Morgan & Partner Divest NGPL Stake for $830M

Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI - Free Report) recently announced that it has agreed to divest a minority stake in Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (“NGPL”) to a fund controlled by private equity firm, ArcLight Capital Partners. (Read More)

Williams Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates by a Penny, Up Y/Y

The Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 31 cents, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny owing to hurricane-related disruptions and negative repercussions from customer bankruptcies. (Read More)

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