Bonds, Stocks Extend New Year Drop Before US Data

US bonds and stock futures extended their drop as traders braced for a swathe of data that could show whether bets on interest-rate cuts this year are justified, Bloomberg reported.

Ten-year Treasury yields rose to 3.97% and S&P 500 futures slid 0.4%. The dollar strengthened for a fourth day, the longest run since November. Nvidia Corp. slid in US premarket trading as investors continued their retreat from tech stocks.

US markets are set to extend their declines from Tuesday, which registered as the biggest global slump since 1999 for the first full day of trading in a year. Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting and economic data on manufacturing and job openings are due later today.

“It’s a very heavy data week — we have minutes, we have payroll, we have ISM,” said Adarsh Sinha, Bank of America Corp’s co-head of Asia FX & rates strategy on Bloomberg Television. “It’s natural investors are reducing some risks in some of the heavily crowded trades toward year-end.”

In the two-day pullback this year, long-end UK bonds have been among the hardest hit. Yields on 30-year UK government notes have risen 14 basis points, more than their US and German equivalents.

Investors are ditching long-end gilts to free up cash before the UK sells new debt that may have a higher coupon.

In Asia, the MSCI regional benchmark sank 1.2% in the steepest retreat since November as investors sold technology stocks.