CNBC Daily Open: Rising yields couldn’t stifle excitement over Nvidia

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Tech rallied amid rising yields
The Nasdaq Composite rallied Monday, breaking a four-day losing streak, even as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hit 4.342%, a decades-long high. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed around 0.9%. The index was lifted by SoftBank shares rising 1.57% on the news that its chip unit Arm has filed for a Nasdaq listing.

Nasdaq listing for Arm
Arm filed for a Nasdaq listing Monday. The U.K.-based company didn’t provide a projected share price, so its valuation is still unknown. (Japan’s Softbank bought Arm in 2016 for $32 billion.) Arm’s chip designs are found in nearly all smartphones, making it one of the most important companies in the chip industry — and a big deal for the initial public offerings market.

S&P cuts credit ratings of banks
S&P Global downgraded the credit ratings of several U.S. banks Monday. The ratings of Associated Banc-Corp and Valley National Bancorp were cut because of funding risks and a higher reliance on brokered deposits, while that of UMB Financial Corp, Comerica Bank and Keycorp were downgraded because of large deposit outflows and interest rates remaining high.

Ingredients for food inflation in Asia
Rice prices surged to their highest in almost 12 years after India banned the export of non-basmati white rice in July. Now, India, the world’s largest exporter of onions, is adding a 40% export tax to the allium. “What seems to be clear is that food price volatility will continue in coming months,” an analyst said.

[PRO] 10% fall in the Stoxx 600?
Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 index currently at 448.66 — but UBS thinks the index will drop 10% to 410 by the end of this year. These are the stocks that will drag the index down because of their high volatility and negative earnings revisions, according to the Swiss bank.

Yields on U.S. Treasurys continued marching higher, with the benchmark 10-year yield closing at 4.342%, a level not seen since November 2007. The 2-year yield added over 6 basis points to breach the 5% barrier, trading at 5.007%.

“Typically spikes in Treasury yields expose other areas of weakness,” said Megan Horneman, chief investment officer at Verdence Capital Advisors. “This is a risk to tech stocks and growth stocks with high PE multiples.”

It’s true technology stocks are sensitive to a high interest rate environment because their value rests on future earnings. Despite that, tech rallied, making their gains even more striking. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite snapped a four-day losing streak to advance 1.6%, its biggest one-day increase since July 28 when it added 1.9%. The S&P 500 tech sector gained 2.26%, helping to push the broader index up 0.69%. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.11%.

“We’re seeing a positive return in the stock market, [which] we didn’t see last week. We think rates are going to be higher for longer and maybe the stock market’s okay with it,” Katy Kaminski, chief market strategist at AlphaSimplex, told CNBC.

Some individual stock movements of note: Tesla popped 7.33%, Meta rose 2.35% and Nvidia jumped 8.3%. Investors are anticipating Nvidia’s earnings report, which comes out Wednesday after the bell. It’s a crucial moment when we’ll find out whether Nvidia’s revenue forecast — which was 50% higher than Wall Street estimates — comes to fruition.

If it does, expect another surge in its stock and other AI-related firms. More importantly, Nvidia’s report might sway market sentiment again, as it did in May when the chipmaker changed the narrative from woes around inflation and recession to optimism and enthusiasm over AI. Some excitement is exactly what the market needs in a sluggish August.