Nasdaq Sinks 1% as Tech and Gold Stocks Slide

Investor caution grips markets ahead of U.S. jobs data; Palantir tumbles on valuation concerns while Yum! Brands rallies on strong earnings.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 239.84 points (1%) at 23,594.89. The S&P 500 is down 42.10 points (0.6%) at 6,809.87 and the Dow is down 117.58 points (0.3%) at 47,219.10.

Palantir Technologies (PLTR) dropped steeply, plunging by 6.9%. It came under pressure amid concerns about the stock's valuation even though the company reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and raised its revenue guidance. Yum! Brands (YUM) surged by 6.0% after the fast food giant reported better than expected third quarter results.

Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO David Solomon warned of a significant correction by the equity markets over the next 1-2 years. "It's likely there'll be a 10 to 20% drawdown in equity markets sometime in the next 12 to 24 months," Solomon said at the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit in Hong Kong. Traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of payroll processor ADP's report on private sector employment on Wednesday. With the ongoing government shutdown indefinitely delaying several key U.S. economic reports, the ADP report could shed light on the strength of the labor market amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Gold stocks substantially moved downwards, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3.0%. The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery tumbling $45.40 or 1.1% to $3,968.60 an ounce. Computer hardware stocks were considerably weak, as reflected by the 2.7% plunge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. The index is pulling back off a record closing high.

Airline stocks too witnessed significant weakness, resulting in a 2.5% slump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index while steel, energy and networking stocks have also shown notable moves to the downside. Asia-Pacific stocks moved mostly lower. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.7%, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.4%. Most European stocks have also moved to the downside while U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is just below the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both down by 0.7%.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved higher after closing roughly flat for two straight sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note which moves opposite of its price, is down by 2.6 bps at 4.08%.

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