Daily Times

Benchmark US Treasury yields edged back from the highest in more than a year on Friday, as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s move not to extend a temporary pandemic regulatory break expiring this month, and oil prices rebounded from severe slides. Wall Street’s main stock indexes ended mixed as bank shares fell after the Fed said it would not extend a temporary capital buffer relief put in place to ease pandemic-driven stress in the funding market. The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.76% after France imposed fresh regional lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.29%. Investors were seeking the next reasons to add risk following the passing of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, broadening US COVID-19 vaccinations and encouraging economic news. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 234.33 points, or 0.71%, to 32,627.97, the S&P 500 lost 2.36 points, or 0.06%, to 3,913.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 99.07 points, or 0.76%, to 13,215.24. The S&P 500 banks index dropped 1.6%. Markets have been consumed by the surge in US bond yields, with investors still digesting the Fed’s meeting earlier this week.