Reuters
US STOCKS-Wall St set to open lower as Fed’s taper talks drag down tech shares
Weakness in tech shares was set to pull Wall Street lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve signaled it could start tapering its stimulus earlier than expected, piling pressure on a sector that is seen as vulnerable to higher interest rates. Shares of tech-heavyweights Amazon.com Inc, Apple , Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc, which soared last year on the back of an ultra-loose policy by the Fed, fell between 0.4% and 0.8% in early deals. “In the short run, tech will have a harder time outperforming the cyclicals only because the Fed is hinting at raising interest rates,” said Tom Mantione, managing director, UBS Private Wealth Management, based in Stamford, Connecticut.
