STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting its biggest weekly decline since October 2022.
The Dow gained more than half a percent, the S&P 500 dropped nearly nine-tenths of a percent and the Nasdaq plunged more than two percent.
Equities have struggled recently following a five-month rally that started in November.
Brad Bernstein, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management, explains.
“So after 22 record closes for the S&P 500 in the first quarter, [FLASH] we’ve had six down days in a row, the longest losing streak of the year for the markets. We’re about 5% off the highs on the S&P. Obviously, this week top of mind for the markets has been the direction of Fed policy and clearly the recent geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.”
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has cautioned market participants not to expect rate cuts any time soon, after recent hotter-than-expected inflation and jobs data.
In company news, shares of Netflix slumped 9% – weighing on both the S&P and Nasdaq – after the streaming service forecast revenue short of analysts’ expectations and unexpectedly said it would no longer provide subscriber numbers.
Chip-related stocks, some of the best performers of the year thanks to their association with artificial intelligence, also tumbled, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down about 4%. It also recorded its biggest weekly percentage decline in nearly two years.
On the flip side, American Express shares, closing up more than 6%, gave the Dow a boost after the payments company reported first-quarter profit that was above expectations.
And shares of Paramount Global surged nearly 13.5% after a source told Reuters that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management are discussing making a joint bid for the company.
