Nasdaq Defies Rising Yields with Multi-Week Highs

The Nasdaq has pushed to fresh multi-week highs despite a backdrop that would normally be hostile for long-duration stocks. Treasury yields have risen sharply, and the US dollar index has gained over 1% in recent days.

However, this hasn't deterred the Nasdaq, which is up around 1.8% over the same period. The correlation between daily moves in Nasdaq futures and Brent crude prices has fallen to around -0.75, near the extreme lower tail of the historical distribution going back to 1999.

This suggests that macro forces may be playing a bigger role in the Nasdaq's recent strength. One possible explanation is that higher interest rates are helping tech stocks indirectly by increasing their relative appeal over more cyclical parts of the market.