New York stocks take a breather…Tech stocks weak on Trump's visa measures

Tesla and Apple rose more than 4% and 2% respectively after target price upgrades

The U.S. stock market, which had reached record highs through last week, was trading flat amid caution on the 22nd (local time).

At 10:10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the S&P500 was down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was hovering around 22,638 points, similar to last Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%.

The S&P500, which has set new highs 27 times so far this year, slipped slightly after a view that various positive factors, including an anticipated restart of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve Board, have already been largely priced in.

President Trump's move to sharply raise H-1B visa issuance fees is expected to make it harder to secure skilled foreign tech workers and push up labor costs, weighing on shares of tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet.

Apple rose 2.4% that day after Wedbush Securities raised the target price to $310, saying iPhone 17 sales are about 10% to 15% ahead of iPhone 16.

Tesla was trading above $443, up more than 4% that day. Piper Sandler's upgrade of its target price to $500—citing the ability to monetize previously sold vehicles through AI technology despite competition from Chinese electric vehicle makers—had a major impact.

Shares of Mesera, an obesity treatment developer being acquired by Pfizer for $7.3 billion, surged more than 60% that day.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell 1 basis point (1bp=0.01%) to 4.127% from the previous trading day. The 2-year note yield was 3.576%, moving at almost the same level as the prior session.

Spot gold rose 1% that day on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $3,723.61 per ounce, once again surpassing an all-time high. Silver also surged, rising more than 50% year-to-date.

As another sign of waning risk appetite, cryptocurrencies were hit after investors liquidated about $1.5 billion (about 2 trillion won) of bullish bets that day.

Bitcoin fell 2.1% to $113,004.15, while ether traded down 6.2% at $4,199.03.

Last week, U.S. markets showed solid gains, with all three major indices setting intraday and closing record highs. The small-cap Russell 2000 index also exceeded its highest level since November 2021.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, the interest rate swap market is pricing in two 0.25% rate cuts by the end of the year.

Emmanuel Ko, head of European equity strategy at Barclays, noted, "Stocks are near record highs and the rate market is pricing in as many as five cuts next year, so going forward the stock market will depend more on strong macroeconomic data than on rates."

Mark Hafel of UBS Global Wealth Management said, "Given current valuations that are high relative to long-term averages, a correction phase is expected as there are reasons to be cautious."

Starting Monday, a series of Fed officials will speak throughout the week, including St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem and newly appointed Fed Governor Steven Myron. On Friday (26th), the Fed-watched inflation gauge, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), will be released.

Contributing reporter Jeong-a Kim kja@hankyung.com