Stock Market Today: Technology Collapses In Another Weak Day For Stocks

The market slumped again on Tuesday before tomorrow’s close of the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting, with technology stocks showing the biggest weakness.

The Department of Labor delivered another sign of rising inflation today, announcing that wholesale prices rose 9.6% year-on-year in November. That number exceeded economists’ expectations by 9.2% and was the highest figure since the department began tracking in November 2010.

Several experts believe that the Fed will almost certainly announce a faster phasing out of asset purchases, in turn raising fears that rate hikes could soon follow.

“Our base case is for the Fed to double the pace of QE tapering, which in theory would bring the March meeting into play for the key rate launch,” said Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments. We also expect the Fed’s median ‘points’ to see rate hikes earlier in 2022, with likely two hikes next year.

“Yet bond yields don’t seem concerned about holding up inflation if the 10-year [Treasury] is 20 basis points below pre-Thanksgiving levels,” noted Lindsey Bell, chief money and markets strategist at Ally Invest. predictor of both inflation and Fed policy will be the labor market.”

Still, the news weighed on the price-sensitive technology sector (-1.6%), as did a note from JPMorgan analyst Sterling Auty, who downgraded its ratings on Adobe (ADBE, -6.6%), Zscaler (NS, -7.8%) and data dog (DDOG, -6.5%), among other software stocks. Microsoft (MSFT, -3.3%) and intuitive (INTU, -4.4%) also weighed on the sector.

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All this placed the greatest burden on the Nasdaq composite, which fell 1.1% to 15,237. The S&P 500 fell a more modest 0.8% to 4,634, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average escaped with a drop of only 0.3% to 35,544.

Other news at the fair today:

• the small cap Russell 2000 fell again, falling 1.0% to 2,159.
• US crude oil futures fell 0.8% to $70.73 a barrel.
• gold futures lost 0.9% to settle at $1,772.30 an ounce.
• Bitcoin however, prices recovered and rose 2.4% to $47,805.73. (Bitcoin is traded 24 hours a day; prices quoted here are from 4pm)
• More than meat (BYND) rose 9.3% after Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery moved the stock from underweight to neutral, the equivalent of Hold and Sell, respectively. The move comes amid Lavery’s expectations that the plant-based protein maker could launch its McPlant burger — which is currently being tested at eight McDonald’s (MCD) locations in the US — nationwide in March, which is earlier than previously expected. Neither Beyond Meat nor McDonald’s has responded.
• MGM Resorts International (MGM) gained 2.2% after the casino operator said it is selling the operations of its Mirage casino on the Las Vegas Strip to Hard Rock International for about $1.1 billion. The sale is expected to close in the second half of next year, pending regulatory approval.

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There is a holiday tradition coming up that people from all walks of life in this amazing country participate in every year: getting their investment lives in order.

The end of the year is a popular time for people to reevaluate their portfolios, especially 401(k)ers who tend to check in once a year – hence our 401(k) fund series, which looks at large fund families such as Fidelity and Vanguard boast a plethora of products that are popular retirement funds.

But other fund families are also worth keeping an eye on, especially if you invest in a brokerage, IRA, or other vehicle where you have access to both mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Today we take a look at some of the top funds from Charles Schwab – a provider that has made a name for itself in recent years for its ultra-competitive low cost. Read on as we highlight 10 names that appear to be built to take on what 2022 has to offer.