Stocks tumble as flight to safety drops 10-year yield to lowest since February

10-year yield falls below 1.29%

U.S. stock markets were under pressure Thursday as the spreading of COVID-19 variants sparked concerns over global growth. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 256 points, or 0.74%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.85% and 0.72%, respectively. The selling tipped both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite off of Wednesday's all-time highs. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 51828.62 +478.64 +0.93%
SP500 S&P 500 7743.41 +39.28 +0.51%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 27068.716462 +129.34 +0.48%

The sharp selloff in the stock market steered investors into the bond market, pushing the 10-year yield down by 3.4 basis points to 1.287%, the lowest since Feb. 18. 

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In stocks, financials, which benefit from a steeper yield curve, were in the crosshairs. 

Carnival Corp. and Delta Airlines suffered amid concerns a rebound in COVID-19 cases could stunt demand for travel. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
CCL CARNIVAL CORP. LTD. 22.25 +0.46 +2.11%
DAL DELTA AIR LINES INC. 84.94 +2.18 +2.63%

Dow component Boeing Co. was lower for a fourth straight session following reports that a unit of Russian airliner Aeroflot canceled an order for 20 Boeing 737 Max jets. 

Other industrials, including Caterpillar Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Inc., were also weaker.  

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
BA THE BOEING CO. 198.07 +1.27 +0.65%
CAT CATERPILLAR INC. 821.58 +16.33 +2.03%
FCX FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC. 72.31 +0.23 +0.32%

Meanwhile, chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp. struggled under growth concerns. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
AMD ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC. 630.63 +1.37 +0.22%
NVDA NVIDIA CORP. 225.07 +0.49 +0.22%

Chinese tech stocks listed in the U.S. tumbled in early trading amid concerns Beijing will toughen measures on the sector. Didi Global Inc. shares have plunged 27% since Chinese regulators on July 1 announced an investigation into national data security risks at the company. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
DIDI NO DATA AVAILABLE - - -
BABA ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD. 109.74 -0.89 -0.80%
BIDU BAIDU INC. 87.33 -0.75 -0.85%

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude oil climbed 74 cents to $72.94 a barrel while gold slipped $1.90 to $1,799.60 an ounce. 

Overseas markets were sharply lower.

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In Europe, France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX 30 declined 2.01% and 1.73%, respectively, after the European Central Bank tweaked its inflation target to 2% "over the medium term." The central bank will allow for inflation to run above the level for a brief time. 

Elsewhere in the region, Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 1.68%.

In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 2.89%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.88% and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.79%.