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Asia Morning: US Indexes Dragged By Tech Giants

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Fundamental analysis of Forex market

On Friday major U.S. stock indexes slid for a second session, pressured by lower share prices of technology giants.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 622 points (-2.6%) to 24,723, the S&P 500 dropped 81 points (-2.8%) to 2,830, and the Nasdaq 100 tumbled 282 points (-3.1%) to 8,718.

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Energy (-6%), Automobiles & Components (-5.2%) and Retailing (-4.96%) sectors suffered the most significant losses.

Tesla (TSLA -10.3%), Amazon.com (AMZN -7.6%), Alphabet (GOOGL -2.2%) and Apple (AAPL -1.6%) showed weakness.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA -2.7%) reported a net loss of $49.7 billion in the first quarter. The Company’s CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett said it has sold its entire stakes in the four major U.S. airlines – Delta Air Lines (DAL -6.9%), Southwest Airlines (LUV -6.5%), American Airlines (AAL -11.4%), and United Airlines (UAL -10.0%) – at a loss.

On the technical side, about 25.8% (31.0% in the prior session) of stocks in the S&P 500 Index were trading above their 200-day moving average, and 83.2% (90.9% in the prior session) were above their 20-day moving average.

Regarding U.S. economic data, the Markit U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (final reading) fell to 36.1 in April (36.7 expected), the lowest level on record. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing PMI posted 41.5 for April (36.0 expected).

Construction Spending rose 0.9% on month in March (-3.5% expected).

Later today, U.S. official data on March Factory Orders (-9.2% on month expected) and Durable Goods Orders (final reading, -14.4% on month expected) will be reported.

European stocks remained heavy, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropping 0.8%. Germany’s DAX fell 2.2%, France’s CAC lost 2.1%, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 2.3%.

U.S. Treasury prices eased, as the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield stepped up to 0.641% from 0.619% Thursday.

Spot gold rebounded 12 dollars or 0.7% to $1,698 an ounce.

Oil prices bounced further on expectations that demand would rebound sharply as global economies reopen from coronavirus-induced lockdowns. U.S. WTI crude oil futures (June) rose 5.0% to $19.78 a barrel, and Brent crude oil futures added 4.6% to $26.44 a barrel.