The Dow was down more than 200 points, a drop of about 1%, in midday trading. The S&P 500 fell more than 1% And the Nasdaq was down nearly 2%, dragged lower by big drops in shares of tech titans Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX).
Concerns about the continued slide in oil prices and the possibility the US-China trade war will lead to a slowdown in China's economy dragged the broader market lower.
A stronger dollar wasn't helping either, since the rise of the greenback eats into profits of blue chip US firms.
Investors were also still digesting Thursday's announcement from the Federal Reserve. The Fed did not raise rates but strongly suggested another hike is coming in December. That was also one of the reasons for the dollar's gains.
But despite Friday's losses, the broader market should still end the week in positive territory -- thanks to the post-Election Day rally Wednesday.
Investors cheered the possibility of gridlock in Washington as Democrats won control of the House while Republicans maintained a majority in the Senate.
The Dow is up nearly 3% this week while the S&P 500 has gained 2%. The Nasdaq is up less than 1%.
In corporate news, General Electric (GE) plunged again after an analyst at JPMorgan Chase slashed his price target on the troubled conglomerate to just $6 a share. GE has lost more than half its value this year.
Several tech companies reported earnings and outlooks that disappointed investors as well, including gaming giant Activision Blizzard (ATVI), online retailer and bitcoin investor Overstock (OSTK) and reviews site Yelp (YELP).
Activision and Overstock were each down about 10% while Yelp plummeted nearly 30%.
The one notable bright spot on the earnings landscape? Media giant Disney (DIS) impressed investors with solid results from its movie studio business. Disney's stock was up 2% and hit its highest level in nearly three years.
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