Tech Stocks Lead Market Rally on 'Triple Witching' Friday
The US stock market started the week on a subdued note, particularly for tech stocks. On Friday morning, the S&P 500 was indicated to open at -0.1%, while the Nasdaq-100 index rose by +0.2%. The small-cap Russell 2000, however, lagged behind with a decline of -0.4%.
The rally in tech stocks saw Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META) lead the charge, gaining +2.3% and +1.2%, respectively. Other winners included hardware suppliers like semiconductor makers, as evidenced by the Philadelphia Semiconductor ETF's (SOXX) modest gain of +0.3%. Optical stocks such as Lumentum (LITE) and Coherent (COHR) also performed well with gains of +1.7% and +1.4%, respectively.
Meanwhile, bond yields rebounded, with the 2-year yield rising by five basis points to 4.72%. The 10-year yield followed suit, increasing by four basis points to 4.98%. Oil prices softened for a third consecutive day despite Saudi Aramco's announcement that it would allocate no crude oil to at least two European customers next month due to the kingdom's pipeline attack.