By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Nasdaq rebounded Friday as bargain hunting traders swooped in to buy beaten down tech stocks following a slump a day earlier.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.82%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.23%, or 385 points. The S&P 500 fell 0.11%.
Tech rose nearly 2% as investors took advantage of the recent slump in big tech, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) leading the gains.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) remained in the red, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were also higher.
The rebound in tech followed the worst one-day loss since October for the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Thursday. Rising U.S. Treasury yields, which have since abated, dented demand for growth stocks that have longer payback periods.
The rise in yields has been exacerbated by a growing inflation jitters, with the 5-year forward breakeven rate, a measure of long-term inflation expectations, "rising from a low of 0.86% at the onset of the crisis to 1.94% as of Feb. 25," Stifel said.
While another round of stimulus will likely boost prices, massive inflationary implications is not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Against the backdrop of tepid recovery and elevated joblessness, some consumers are more likely to "save than spend any additional stimulus funds received [and] could more likely lead to stagnant, or at the very least, very minimal price pressures over the next 12-24 months," Stifel added
The rebound in tech, however, failed to spill over into other corners of the markets as cyclicals traded in the red.
Energy was among the steepest decliners, paced by drops in Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI), TechnipFMC (NYSE:FTI) and EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), with the latter down 9% despite better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Other quarterly results, meanwhile, were mixed.
Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) fell 5% after its missed Q4 estimates and guided margins to be flat in fiscal 2022.
Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) reported earnings that beat expectations, but revenue missed Wall Street estimates in Q4 as comparable store sales slipped 2% on the prior-year period.
Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB)'s maiden quarterly report as public company drew much investor fanfare as company's beat on the bottom line sent its share price soaring 15%.