© Reuters.
By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com — The S&P 500 fell on Tuesday as Big Tech continued to falter as Treasury yields rose on signs that the consumer remains optimistic and concerns about a banking crisis subside.
The fell 0.4%, the slipped 0.3%, or 82 points, and the slipped 0.80%.
The Treasury added to its gains from a day earlier as data showed consumers are still upbeat about the economy, suggesting the Federal Reserve may have more work to do.
Rising to 104.2 in March from an upwardly revised 103.4 in February, beating economists’ forecast of 101.0.
“The confidence data suggests that the Fed should continue to push through the hawkish policy guidance it has been providing for the past few months,” Jefferies said in a note.
The rising interest rate environment continued to put pressure on tech stocks, with Big Tech driving lower.
Apple (NASDAQ:), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:), Alphabet (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) were all down more than 1%, with the latter coming under regulatory scrutiny.
Germany’s antitrust watchdog said on Tuesday it was investigating Microsoft to establish whether the tech giant’s market power can warrant an investigation into potentially anti-competitive practices.
A drop in semiconductors also affected broader technology ahead of chipmaker Micron Technology Inc’s (NASDAQ:) results due after the markets closed.
Micron’s quarterly results are expected to reflect lower memory demand amid weak cloud and PC environments, while high inventories remain a drag.
However, energy rose more than 1% to partly offset broader market losses, with Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:), Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:) leading higher.
Warren Buffett increased his stake in Occidental Petroleum Corporation to 23.6% after buying 3.7 million shares of the oil company in the past three days, a regulatory filing showed.
In other news, LYFT (NASDAQ:) reversed earnings after David Risher, who was named as the new CEO and is due to take office on April 1, ruled out a sale of the company. Risher said that Lyft he was not for sale and would focus on his ride-sharing business.
The designation move, which was briefly welcomed by the market, still has questions about whether the ride-sharing company will be able to make up ground against its biggest rival, Uber (NYSE:).
“We anticipate he will review Lyft’s strategic direction, cost structure and go-to-market strategy, but it’s not yet clear whether the new management will be enough to offset some of Uber’s enduring advantages. has shared rides in the United States,” Deutsche Bank said in a note.
