It’s been another bearish week for U.S. stocks as the major indexes tumbled on a weekly basis. The S&P 500 fell as low as 20% from an all-time high in January before reversing late in the session to push the benchmark to flat.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) All Share Index (ASI) fell 1.16% for the week, its eighth straight weekly loss. It opened at 15,257.4 basis points and closed the week at 15,081.0 basis points. While the New York Stock Exchange had a bearish start to the first two days of the week, Wednesday’s drop left the exchange’s index trading at its highest level since February 2021. Despite the gains over the past two sessions, it wasn’t enough to reverse Wednesday’s losses.
The Nasdaq fell for the seventh straight week, down 3.82% for the week under consideration. It started at 11,729.33 basis points and ended the week at 11,354.62 basis points. As the market recorded 1.2 billion transactions, the trading volume for the week was 2.43% lower than the previous week.
The Dow and S&P 500 also lost 2.90% and 3.10%, respectively. The Dow fell for an eighth straight week, while the S&P 500 posted its seventh straight weekly loss.
What drives the market?
Stocks fell into bear market territory on Friday. The most recent drop in investor confidence has been largely due to subdued retail earnings, which has fueled fears of a looming consumer-led recession, as well as inflation and supply chain challenges that have weighed on sentiment for weeks.
To illustrate how far the market fell today, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell for the seventh straight week. It was the index’s longest losing streak since the end of the dot-com bubble in 2001. During the Great Depression, the Dow fell for an eighth straight week, its longest decline since 1932.
The S&P 500 has spent most of its time in negative territory, closing down more than 20% from its record high set on Jan. 3 at one point, before dropping 18% from that level to be flat on the day. By one common definition, a 20% close from that record level would confirm that the S&P 500 has been in a bear market since reaching its January high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down about 27% from its record close in November 2021.
More specifically, weighing heavily on the S&P 500 was a 6.4% drop in Tesla’s shares after Tesla CEO Elon Musk denounced him in a 2016 news report over a private jet. of a flight attendant sexually harassed “totally untrue”. Other large-cap stocks also fell, with Apple down 5.50%, Google parent Alphabet Inc down 1.3% and Nvidia down 2.5%.
Markets were also weighed by recent disappointing forecasts from big retailers including Walmart, Kohl’s and Target, which have rattled sentiment and added evidence that rising prices have begun to hurt the purchasing power of U.S. consumers.
Ross Stores tumbled 22.5% on Friday after the discount clothing retailer cut its 2022 sales and profit forecasts, while Vans brand owner VF Corp rose 6.1% on a strong 2023 revenue outlook. Shares of Deere & Co. fell 14% after the heavy equipment maker reported downbeat quarterly revenue. Pfizer rose 3.6%, helping the S&P 500 avoid losses on the day.
Shares of Twitter rose again earlier on Tuesday as Elon Musk confirmed that his $44 billion deal for the platform could not move forward until he had a better idea of how many accounts were fake. The stock fell 3% to $36 in premarket trading on the news, down 25% from the previous week, and the completion of the deal looks increasingly uncertain. In fact, the stock has lost all of its gains since closing at $39.31 on April 1, the last trading day before the billionaire disclosed his minority stake in Twitter.
At the macro level, soaring inflation and rising interest rates are also weighing on the market. Those factors have battered U.S. stocks this year, and this week’s red flags from Walmart and other retailers added to concerns about the economy.
Despite these factors weighing on the market, there appears to be a silver lining if people squint hard enough, including falling U.S. bond yields, a flattening dollar and commodity prices, and a partial recovery from the COVID-19 lockdown. Open China.
top 5 winners
Despite the underperformance in the U.S. market, there were some notable gains this week. They include:
- Applied Blockchain Company (APLD) 102.78%
- Nanoviricides Inc (NNVC) 101.18%
- Red Box Entertainment (RDBX) 98.51%
- Agricultural Growing Systems Ltd (AGRI) 76.05%
- Biomea Fusion Inc (BMEA) 69.43%
top 5 losers
- Polarityte Inc (PTE) -55.60%
- Chimerix Inc (CMRX) -44.58%
- An2 Therapeutics Inc (ANTX) -41.18%
- Tonix Pharm Holdings (TNXP) -39.73%
- Cyngn Corporation (CYN) -38.30%
