Stock futures were quiet on Friday as Wall Street looked toward to end of a week defined by rotation. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 122 points, 0.3%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both flickered around flat. Those moves comes after stocks declined across the board on Thursday. The Dow fell more than 500 points to snap a six-day winning streak. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite shed 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Despite Thursday’s broad sell-off, a market rotation still appears to be theme of the week. The S&P 500 has dropped 1.26%, on pace for its worst week since April. The Nasdaq Composite has slipped 2.87%, putting a six-week winning streak at risk. On the other hand, the Dow is up 1.66%, while the small cap-focused Russell 2000 has climbed 2.33%. That divergence has been encouraging to some Wall Street pros who had worried that the market rally was becoming too dependent on a handful of massive tech stocks. A shift away from megacap artificial intelligence beneficiaries can explain the Nasdaq’s underperformance this week, as well as why the information technology and communication services sectors have led the broad S&P 500 lower. “The headline is ‘these are down’ with some of the momentum stocks getting hit,” said Chis Verrone, head of technical and macro research at Strategas, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” But, “the breadth under the surface these last two weeks has been absolutely spectacular.” Verrone also said the move to small caps “has more durability than the consensus expects.” CrowdStrike tumbled more than 10% following a major information technology outage that impacted business around the world. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq both said trading did not appear impacted. Investors will also be keeping an eye on the the political sphere. Donald Trump is ramping up his campaign as the Republican National Convention draws to a close, while President Joe Biden is under pressure from fellow Democrats to bow out of the race. U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher on Friday as investors considered the path ahead for interest rates after the latest comments from Federal Reserve officials. The yield on the 10-year Treasury added more than 3 basis points to 4.22%. The 2-year Treasury yield rose more than 3 basis points higher to 4.49%. Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday, tracking Wall Street declines as investors continued to rotate out of tech stocks and take profits from the rally in equities in recent weeks. Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.16% lower at 40,063.79, while the broad-based Topix retreated 0.27% to end at 2,860.83. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 2.02% in its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s CSI 300 inched up 0.51% to close at 3,539. However, Chinese chip stocks listed in Hong Kong bucked the trend, with Hua Hong Semiconductor up 4.46% and SMIC gaining 1.5%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.02% to 2,795.46. The index lost 2.15% this week, marking its steepest weekly decline since April 15. The small-cap Kosdaq climbed 0.76% to end the trading session at 828.72. The Taiwan Weighted Index shed 2.26%, wrapping the day at 22,869.26. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.81% to close at 7,971.6. Oil prices were little changed on Friday as a strong dollar and concern over top oil importer China’s economy were countered by a tighter supply outlook. Brent crude prices fell by 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $85.03 a barrel by 0938 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $82.65 a barrel. Gold prices fell on Friday, but were on track for a fourth straight weekly gain as expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September lifted bullion’s appeal. Spot gold was down 1.25% to $2,414.45 per ounce. It has risen 0.1% this week, and hit an all-time high of $2,483.60 on Wednesday. U.S. gold futures fell 1.6% to $2,416.80. The U.S. dollar inched higher 0.1% and benchmark 10-year Treasury yields also drifted higher, putting pressure on bullion.
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