Nasdaq futures down as spike in yields pressures tech stocks

REUTERS: Futures tracking the Nasdaq 100 index fell on Tuesday as a rise in U.S. bond yields hit tech-related stocks and investors bought into undervalued banks and industrial shares that stand to benefit from a re-opening economy.

Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.6per cent as Amazon.com, Apple Inc, Netflix Inc and Microsoft Corp dropped between 0.6per cent and 0.8per cent premarket, as U.S. 10-year Treasury yields hit a 14-month high.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which houses some of the "high-flying" FAANG stocks, is set for its first monthly loss since November as rosy economic projections lifted demand for undervalued banks, energy, materials and industrial stocks.

A rise in yields has particularly hit tech stocks which often have a low-rate environment heavily baked into their high valuations.

The Nasdaq is still about 7per cent below its all-time closing high, while bets on a speedy economic recovery driven by vaccine distributions and unprecedented stimulus has helped the S&P 500 and the Dow notch record closing highs last week.

The three main indexes recouped most of their losses from session lows on Monday as investors took heart from signs that the impact from the fall of a U.S. hedge fund was limited to a handful of stocks and didn't ripple out to broader markets.

At 6:42 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 85 points, or 0.26per cent, S&P 500 E-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.02per cent and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 78.25 points, or 0.6per cent.

Banks and industrial stocks including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley and Boeing Co added between 0.9per cent and 1.4per cent.

Bitcoin prices gained about 2per cent after Reuters reported that PayPal Holdings Inc is set to announce that it has started allowing U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally.

(Reporting by Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)