U.S. tech stocks rebound, global bond rout eases
White, Bergin, Bouzan lead way in Burrillville win over Titans
U.S. tech stocks staged a modest rebound on the last day of a tumultuous week as a global bond rout eased, sending the yield on 10-year Treasuries tumbling below 1.5%.
Gains for Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. helped lift the Nasdaq 100 about 0.6%. Energy producers and banks were among the worst performers, dragging down the Dow Jones industrial average. The dollar jumped for a second day, helping fuel a slump in commodities from oil to gold to copper.
Asian shares tumbled in line with Thursday’s rout in the U.S., and European gauges also closed lower. Global bonds stabilized after central banks from Asia to Europe moved to calm a panic that had sent U.S. government bond yields to their highest level in a year and spurred a sell-off in stock markets.
Investors are getting increasingly worried that accelerating inflation could trigger a pullback in monetary policy support that has fueled gains in risk assets amid the pandemic. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says higher Treasury yields reflect optimism on the outlook for growth and officials have stressed that the central bank has no plans to tighten policy given lingering weakness in the labor market.
“Higher rates will create a situation where investors will not accept the kind of skyhigh valuations that they’ve been willing to accept in recent years,” wrote Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “Although what Chairman Powell said this week was bullish for the economy, it was not particularly bullish for the stock market.”
Nasdaq 100 pared its weekly loss to about 5%, the worst since October, amid concern that valuations for tech stocks that soared during the pandemic have gotten out of hand.
Elsewhere, copper slid the most in four months, falling from a nine-year high. Gold fell to the lowest since June.
Emerging-market stocks posted the worst weekly loss in almost a year. Bitcoin fell below $47,000.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
--The S&P 500 Index fell 0.5% as of 4 p.m. EST.
--The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 1.6%.
--The MSCI Asia Pacific index declined 3.7%.
--The MSCI Emerging Markets index retreated 3.2%.
Currencies
--The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%.
--The euro was 0.8% lower at $1.2075.
--The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.3935.
--The Japanese yen slipped 0.4% to 106.58 per dollar.
Bonds
--The yield on 10-year Treasurys tumbled 10 basis point to 1.42%.
--Germany’s 10-year yield dropped three basis points to -0.26%.
BURRILLVILLE — Burrillville’s Wes Cournoyer knows his sprained ankle won’t allow him to impact games the way he had during the regular season, but with the No. 3 Broncos and No. 6 Toll Gate tied late in the third quarter of Saturday afternoon’s Division II preliminary contest, the Broncos turned to the junior.
Out of a timeout, Burrillville forward Dean Ayotte handed the ball off to Cournoyer
at the top of the key and the junior quickly splashed a 3-pointer to give Burrillville a lead it would never relinquish.
“We knew they weren’t going to switch with the big guarding the screen, so I knew I was going to get up a three,” said Cournoyer, whose only points came on the shot in the final minute of the third quarter. “I can’t really do much on a sprained ankle, but I can still shoot. That was a big momentum swing and gave it back to us.”
“That was the biggest shot of the game,” Burrillville point guard Jaden White said. “It gave us the lead and got us going.”
The Broncos only allowed two field goals after Cournoyer’s make, while they continued to knock down 3-pointers to pull away for the program’s first Division II playoff win. White canned a team-high four 3-pointers and scored 15 points, while Colby Bouzan hit three 3-pointers and produced a team-high 16 points in a 54-44 victory at the Broncodome.
“The defense we played in the fourth quarter was unbelievable,” Burrillville coach Kevin Randall said. “They have a lot firepower and a bunch of guys who could score, so I’m just so proud of these guys. We made the D-II playoffs in our first two years up here and got blown out. We talked to the six seniors about their legacy. A, they didn’t lose here all year – they protected the dome. And they also won a D-II playoff game.”
Burrillville (7-2) will face Warwick’s other public school, No. 2 Pilgrim, in the quarterfinals Monday night. The Patriots, who are led by senior wing Tyriek Weeks and senior guard Kenny Rix, only lost one Division II game this season.
Toll Gate (4-6) received a game-high 25 points from senior guard Francisco Lopez, who Randall said should be up for All-State consideration. Sophomore wing Jackson Cehelsky knocked down two 3-pointers, including the only Titan make during an eight-minute dry spell late in the second half.
“After a tough first half I just wanted to see them fight one offensive possession at a time and one defensive possession at a time,” said Toll Gate coach Tom Rayko, whose daughter Chloe is a starter for the undefeated St. Raphael girls basketball team. “We tied the game up, but we never took the lead. [Cournoyer’s] 3-pointer was huge because we couldn’t make shots after that. We hit a wall.”
The Broncos knew the Titans were going to start the game in a 2-3 zone, so the game was going to come down to whether the Broncos could make 3-pointers. Shots weren’t falling in the first quarter, but Jack Bergin (11points) scored seven points to help the Broncos, who didn’t take a shot inside the 3-point line in the opening 4:49, take a one-point lead after eight minutes.
White, who missed his first three shots, and Bouzan found their shooting touch in the second quarter. Bouzan netted 10 points, while White made a pair of 3-pointers to build an 11-point lead at halftime.
“After I missed my first couple of shots, I went to the bench and [Randall] said to keep letting them fly because they’re eventually going to fall,” White said. “They started falling.”
Rayko eschewed the 2-3 zone defense at halftime in favor of a half-court man-to-man approach that paid immediate dividends. After the Broncos committed just two turnovers in the first half, they made six in the third quarter to fuel the Titans’ furious comeback. Outside of a White 3-pointer with 3:30 left in the quarter, the Broncos failed to make a shot in the first seven minutes of the quarter.
The Titans received nine points in the quarter from Lopez and a 3-pointer from Cehelsky to tie the game at 37. That’s when Cournoyer made the biggest shot of the night to send the Broncos into the fourth quarter up three points.
“It’s no secret Wes has been banged up, but for him to come through in a tie game when we call a play for him and he bangs a 3-pointer,” Randall said. “That’s the type of kid Wes is. He’s battled so hard to get back from this injury, so the mental toughness that kid has is incredible. He’s one of our best guys for a reason.”
Cehelsky’s fourth-quarter 3-pointer kept the Titans close, but then Ayotte (five points) and Bouzan connected on 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to stretch the lead out to nine with 4:32 left in regulation. White hit his fourth 3-pointer later in the quarter to secure the win.
“This feels amazing,” Cournoyer said. “This is the first time we’ve hosted a playoff game, so to win it and finish the season undefeated at home feels real good. We defended our place every time we got the chance.”