US: Nasdaq retreats ahead of Big Tech earnings rush

INVESTORS pulled back on tech shares on Monday ahead of a deluge of market-moving central bank and corporate announcements in the coming days.

The unusually news-jammed stretch includes Wednesday’s announcement from the Federal Reserve, which is believed will undertake another large three-quarter of a percentage point interest rate increase as it seeks to counter inflation.

The government is also set to release its first estimate of second-quarter growth. If the report shows a contraction, that would meet at least one technical definition of a recession: two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Also on tap: an extremely heavy week of earnings reports featuring tech giants like Apple, and industrial behemoths such as Boeing and General Motors, along with McDonald’s and other consumer-oriented names.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.3 per cent at 31,990.04.

The broad-based S&P 500 won 0.1 per cent to 3,966.84, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 0.4 per cent to 11,782.67.

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The pullback in Nasdaq reflects reticence ahead of an intense 72-hour stretch that will see releases from most of the biggest US companies, beginning on Tuesday with Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft.

“Investors won’t want to touch Nasdaq stocks until we hear from Alphabet tomorrow and if they don’t like what they hear they may wait to see if Thursday’s massive results from Apple and Amazon provide any reasons to be optimistic with tech stocks,” said a note from Oanda’s Edward Moya. AFP