Morning Report 4 Mar 21: ASX to open lower as rising rates unseat Wall St

US sharemarkets were choppy on Wednesday. Technology stocks fell most in response to a rise in bond yields; US 2-year yields rose 2 points to near 0.14%. And US 10-year yields rose by 5 points to near 1.47%. Shares in Amazon and Alphabet (Google) were down by around 3%. But energy, financials and industrial stocks generally rose. Shares in Exxon Mobil rose more than 2% after it unveiled plans to grow dividends and curb spending. With an hour left of trade, the Dow Jones index was up by around 71 points or 0.2%. The S&P 500 index was down around 0.6% with the Nasdaq index lower by 270 points or 2.0%.

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