Stock futures slip after major averages register two days of losses

Stock futures are down as investors came out of a tumultuous day with bond yields rising and wide-ranging corporate earnings.

Futures for the Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.7%, while futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 52 points or 0.17%. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.35%.

The indexes saw a second consecutive day of slides during regular trading, with the Dow shedding 90.22 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 0.8% and and 0.6%, respectively.

It was a day that started on better footing for the Dow, which hit nearly 400 points at session highs, but rising Treasury yields slashed threw cold water on stocks. The 10-year Treasury yield posted a high of 4.239% – a level not seen since 2008.

But even with today’s losses factored in, the major averages are still up more than 2% for the week – propelled by rallies on Monday and Tuesday – and are on pace for the best week since early September.

Corporate earnings were a mixed bag. AT&T and IBM were among stocks that jumped after beating estimates. But Snap and Robert Half were among those sliding after those companies posted results that fell short of expectations.

Thursday’s trading fits a broader picture of jittery investors making knee-jerk decisions based on the news of the day, said Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group. He said investors are increasingly moving into shorter-term strategies as they see the Federal Reserve creating a volatile market as it seeks to bring down inflation through interest rate hikes.

“Markets look for every sign that the inflation data is moving in such a way that the Fed can reduce its pace of interest rates, and are basically ignoring speakers and governors, and basically ignoring everything the Fed to say,” Cox said.

“It lends itself to very, very choppy trading because people are trigger happy and just waiting for the signal that the pause is coming,” he said. “It’s a bad way to trade and it brings lots of volatility.”

Investors will watch for earnings before the bell from Verizon as corporate reporting season continues.