AlphaTALKS Wall Street Breakfast, March 6: What Moved Markets This Week

Stock markets sold off again this week on renewed concerns over bond yields and the Fed’s unwillingness to engage in any kind of yield curve control, or YCC. A late rally on Friday stopped a lot of the bleeding, but for the week all but the Dow Industrials index were lower.Fed chair Jerome Powell dodged questions over YCC in a Q&A session on Thursday and reiterated the Fed’s dovish stance on rates, causing most of the week’s selling. Stocks rebounded after non-farm payrolls beat estimates Friday morning before retreating anew, and then rebounding again in the afternoon. After all was said and done the Dow eked out a 0.2% gain for the week, while S&P 500 gave up 0.7%. Tech and small-caps saw worse damage, with the Nasdaq dropping 3.4% and Russell 2000 off 2.5%.Winners & LosersOil and energy stocks were the big winner. Brent crude rose more than 7% this week and the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLE) gained 3.5%. Several oil stocks set 52-week highs, including Exxon (NYSE:XOM), ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), Hess Corp (NYSE:HES), Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), and Total SE (NYSE:TOT). Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) shares added 18% for the week, also setting a 52-week high. Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) rallied by 12% and Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) was up 11%.The ‘reopening trade’ had some stocks in the winners’ column as well. Trip Advisor (NASDAQ:TRIP) rallied 19%. Norwegian Cruise Lines (NYSE:NCLH) shares are up 14% this week.Reddit WallStreetBets stocks quietly had a strong week. GameStop (NYSE:GME) rallied 22% and Rocket Companies (NYSE:RKT) gained 35% even after a drop today.Tech stocks were the big loser, with this week’s rout wiping $1.6 trillion from the industry. Shares of Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA), DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU), and Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) saw some of the heaviest selling. Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) all saw drops of around 10%. Some REITS performed poorly as well. American Tower (NYSE:AMT) gave up 10% this week.What Caught Our Eye(s) This WeekKim: Scott Minerd’s prediction that the 10-year will resume its rally, with yields topping out at -0.5%;Brad: Electric vehicle stocks sell off to put investors to the test;Stephen: Bill Ackman and Chamath Palihapitiya's hot SPACs see shaky trading;About This PodcastAlpha TALKS Wall Street Breakfast is a weekly podcast covering what moved markets this week (WMMTW), featuring a panel of Seeking Alpha editors.Hosted by Nathaniel E. Baker, Senior Editor, Strategic Contributors, and featuring:Bradley Olesen, VP News (off this week);Kim Khan, Senior News Editor;Stephen Alpher, Managing Editor News, co-host of Seeking Alpha's Alpha Trader podcast.A slightly longer video publishes every Friday by close of trading on the SeekingAlpha.com website. Watch this week's video here.The video can also be seen on the Seeking Alpha YouTube account.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices