US open: Stocks dip on geopolitics, bond yields and mixed results

dl new york city nyc ny us usa united states of america manhattan skyline city finance trading nyse dow jones sp dollar dollars usd federal reserve fed — New York CitySharecast photo / Josh White

US stock market indices were on track for their third straight day in the red as rising geopolitical tensions and elevated bond yields weighed on risk appetite, while investors digested a raft of mixed corporate earnings.

As of 1529 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials was off by 0.31% at 33,558.0, alongside a 0.28% decline for the S&P 500 to 4,303.05.

The Nasdaq Composite on the other hand was drifting lower by just 0.12% to 13,298.04.

With little US economic data scheduled to be released during the session, the focus will be firmly on news-flow from Israel, where the government and Hamas continue to blame each other for a devastating airstrike on a Gazan hospital on Tuesday evening, which left scores dead.

Tensions were rising across the wider region, with Iran calling for an oil embargo on Israel in response to the continued bombing of Gaza.

Meanwhile, the US government and others had backed Israeli evidence that it did not carry out the attack, following a face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

"Whilst some haven assets benefited from the geopolitical risk premium, sovereign bonds continued to sell off sharply across the world. US Treasuries were at the forefront of that, with yields rising to new cycle highs across the curve," said analysts at Deutsche Bank.

On Wednesday, the yield on a 10-year US Treasury jumped 8.1 basis points to close at a high of 4.91% – a new high since the global financial crash.

Come Thursday morning in New York and it was up a further 3bp to 4.94%, nearing levels not seen since July 2007.

A bunch of stronger-than-expected US economic data in recent weeks was behind the rise in yields.

Comments from Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell will be closely watched at 1700 BST when he speaks at the Economic Club of New York, as investors look for clues on future monetary policy.

Meanwhile, WTI crude was down 0.84% at $87.50 a barrel, pulling back after a strong rise over recent days, on the back of supply concerns surrounding Israel.

Deutsche Bank analysts added that Israel only plays a small role in the global oil market, but recent comments from Iran "served as a reminder of the 1973 oil embargo (50 years ago this week) that sent several Western countries into recession and led to a sharp rise in inflation".

Netflix shares surged 16% after the streaming group impressed with an 11% rise in subscriptions in its third quarter, along with plans to raise prices.

Meanwhile, Tesla was down by 8% following a worse-than-expected decline in third-quarter profits, as founder Elon Musk delivered a cautious outlook on the obstacles standing in the way of its long-delayed Cybertruck.

AT&T shares were also on the up, climbing 7% on the back of its latest results.

Dow Jones - Risers

Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $208.65 1.86%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $31.57 1.67%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $334.28 1.26%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $36.07 1.21%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $305.14 1.05%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $21.46 0.99%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $258.32 0.89%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $177.28 0.82%
Boeing Co. (BA) $186.90 0.65%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $259.89 0.26%