U.S. stocks were mixed in Thursday-morning trading, with gains in technology shares helping offset losses among real estate and financial shares.
Moves were muted ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting. Both the Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of Australia raised rates this week, with the former citing concerns that inflation may get stuck materially above its 2% target. That has some investors questioning whether other major central banks, like the Fed, will keep raising rates for longer.
So far, though, positioning in futures markets suggests many traders are betting the Fed will keep rates unchanged next week.
Jobless claims rose last week to levels last seen in October 2021. The market’s next important signal will be U.S. inflation data on Tuesday.
In early market action:
Stocks wavered. The S&P 500 fell 0.1%, inching away from the level that it needs to close at to mark the start of a bull market. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed.
Meme stock GameStop plunged. Shares dropped around 20% after the videogame retailer fired its CEO and appointed a new executive chairman.
Treasury bonds retreated. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note touched 3.825% before easing to 3.747%. It settled Wednesday at 3.782%.
Australian and New Zealand bonds sold off. Australia’s 10-year yield rose to 4.015%, adding nearly one-fifth of a percentage point. New Zealand’s equivalent bond climbed more than a tenth of a point to 4.574%.
Global stock markets were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 retreated 0.9%. The Stoxx Europe 600 inched up 0.1%.