Stock market today: Live updates

China’s onshore and offshore yuan slipped to its weakest levels against the greenback since November 2023, with both metrics breaching the 7.2 level.

The onshore yuan last traded at 7.225, while the offshore yuan stood at 7.254.

Reuters reported that China’s state banks were swapping dollars for yuan in a bid to arrest the slide.

— Lim Hui Jie, Reuters

Apple suppliers in Asia largely fell after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple in an antitrust case on Thursday, saying that the iPhone maker has a monopoly over the phone market that harmed consumers, developers, and rival companies.

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, which supplies the chips that power the iPhone, were down 0.77%.

South Korean electronics firms Samsung Electronics and LG Display lost 1.13% and 2.41% respectively. Both firms produce OLED screens for the iPhone.

However, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan, jumped 3.16%.

Taiwan’s central bank raised its main policy rate from 1.875% to 2%, its highest level since 2008, in a surprise move on Thursday, according to an official statement.

The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) said “inflation has stayed at a relatively higher level since 2021 and that a proposed electricity rate hike might be implemented in April this year, inflation expectations might shift upwards.”

In a Reuters poll, 25 out of 26 economists said the central bank would keep the rate unchanged. 

“The decision reinforced CBC’s commitment in containing inflation,” Commerzbank said, while adding that it now expects the central bank to take a cautious approach.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Utility stocks are beating tech stocks so far in March (up 3.2% vs 2.8%) in the S&P 500 and if history is any guide, April will be a good month too.

The first full of month of Spring has been the best month of the year for utility stocks 80% of the time over the past 20 years, BTIG chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky wrote Thursday, noting that utilities have recently performed well even as interest rates have moved higher, and “look to emerge out of a multi-month base.”

Consequently, he argues the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund “looks timely here as a bearish-to-bullish reversal candidate.” The average monthly gain for XLU is 2.15% every April over the past two decades, Krinsky wrote.

All three major averages cinched record closing highs on Thursday, for the second session in a row. Here’s where the major averages stand for the week ahead of Friday’s trading:

— Lisa Kailai Han

These are the stocks moving the most in after-hours trading:

• Lululemon Athletica — Shares of the athleisure company dropped 10%. Lululemon posted weak guidance and reported that growth in North America is slowing.
• FedEx — Shares gained nearly 13% after the shipping company beat quarterly earnings expectations.
• Dutch Bros — Shares of the drive-through coffee chain slipped about 5%. Dutch Bros announced the launch of a secondary offering of its shares by certain stockholders associated with TSG Consumer Partners L.P.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han