Stock Market Today: Stocks extend slide on Treasury yield surge, tech slump

U.S. equity futures extended declines Thursday, following on from the worst day for tech stocks since February, as another move higher in Treasury bond yields, as well as the threat of a ground assault on Gaza by Israeli forces, pounds investor sentiment ahead of another key session on Wall Street.

Tech stocks were crush yesterday, with the Nasdaq falling 2.4% and sliding into correction territory – defined as a 10% decline from a recent high – in the wake of a disappointing earnings report from Alphabet  (GOOGL) - Get Free Report that loped $166 billion in market value from the Google parent. 

A muted outlook from Meta Platforms META last night looks to add to the tech gloomy as the social media giant crushed Street earnings forecasts, but said near-term ad sales could be affected by broader macro conditions, which is hinted were already weakening.

Treasury bond yields, meanwhile, were marching higher again in overnight trading, with 10-year notes testing the 5% mark, which it breached for the first time since 2007 earlier this week, following a disappointing auction of $52 billion in 5-year notes yesterday alongside stronger-than-expected new homes sales for the month of September. 

Benchmark 2-year notes, meanwhile, were marked at 5.118% in the overnight session while the U.S. dollar index tested multi-month highs against its global peers at 106.775 after moving past the 150 mark against the Japanese yen.

Bond and currency markets are also likely to be active today with a key intertest rate decision from the European Central Bank prior to the start of U.S. trading and weekly jobless claims data, alongside a first look at third quarter GDP at 8:30 am Eastern time.

Market volatility gauges are also on the move, with the CBOE's VIX index up $2.45 to $21.42 a level that suggests daily swings of around 56 points, or 1.34% , for the S&P 500 over the next thirty days. 

Heading into the opening hour of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is down 2.36% for the month, are priced for a 23 point opening bell decline while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are priced for an 85 point pullback.

The tech-focused Nasdaq is looking at around 130 point decline, with Meta shares falling 2.85% in pre-market trading and Alphabet down around 1.93%. 

In overseas markets, the region-wide Stoxx 600 fell 0.96% in early Frankfurt trading, lead to the downside by banks and financials, ahead of the ECB rate decision at 8:15 am eastern time.

Overnight in Asia, markets were one edge for currency market intervention from the Bank of Japan after the yen fell through the 150 mark against a surging dollar, with the Nikkei 225 also slumping 2.14% following last night's sell-off on Wall Street.

The region-wide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark, meanwhile, fell 1.2% to a fresh one-year low heading into the close of trading. 

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