US stocks slide after Amazon’s quarterly loss

The moves mark a reversal from Thursday, when tech stocks led gains as investors cheered a strong earnings report from Meta Platforms. a drop in online shopping, higher costs due to inflation and supply chain issues, and market jitters about electric vehicle startups.

Amazon shares fell 12% in morning trade, on track for the biggest one-day drop since at least 2014. Moves at big tech companies can have outsized impacts on major stock indexes due to their higher weighting relative to other stocks.

Friday’s losses continue to be volatile for major indices, and tech stocks in particular. Tech stocks have been under pressure this month as further expected interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve attract investors to bonds and a lockdown in Shanghai adds disruption to the global supply chain . The Nasdaq Composite was down about 10% this month through Thursday’s close, continuing a painful streak of losses to start the year.

Apple warned Thursday that the resurgence of Covid-19 in China threatens to hamper sales of up to $8 billion in the current quarter. The shares are up around 0.2% in recent trades.

“The reality is that weeks after this lockdown, we are back to supply chain disruptions which could impact inflation and which could put central banks in difficult positions,” said Esty Dwek, director. investments at FlowBank. “We have seen the beginning of improvements in supply chains, but that should reverse if these lockdowns in China last any longer.”

Tesla shares rose 4.2% after chief executive Elon Musk revealed he had recently sold around $4 billion worth of the electric car maker’s stock to fund its takeover of Twitter, but said that no further sales were planned.

The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditure index of core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, rose 5.2% in March from compared to the previous year. Consumer spending in the United States in March rose 1.1% from the previous month.

In bond markets, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bill rose to 2.908% on Friday from 2.862% on Thursday. Yields rise when prices fall.

The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the US currency against a basket of 16 others, fell 0.4%. The greenback has strengthened against other currencies this year in anticipation of Fed rate hikes, which are expected to happen faster and more aggressively than in the eurozone and Japan.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, added 1.3% to $108.71 a barrel in recent trades. Moscow’s cut of gas supplies to some countries has traders worried about further disruptions as European countries try to move away from Russian energy.

Overseas, the pancontinental Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1%.

In Asia, Alibaba and other Chinese tech stocks jumped double-digit percentages on investor hope that the Chinese government would do more to support the sector and the wider economy. The surge helped Chinese stocks recoup some of their recent losses, while the yuan also recovered against the dollar after selling off sharply in recent sessions.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 4%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index jumped 10% as shares of tech companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Meituan all rose more than 10%.

In mainland China, the CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indices both rose around 2.4%.

-Gunjan Banerji contributed to this article.

Write to Caitlin Ostroff at [email protected]