SP 500 And Nasdaq Slide: As the curtain came down on Wall Street’s lively centre stage, the SP 500 and Nasdaq looked more subdued. This was due to a disappointing drop in consumer mood data and the unsettling rhythm of violence in the Middle East. Big U.S. banks put on happy shows, but the real stars were the gloomy tones of global uncertainty and investors’ fear of taking risks.
Wall Street’s three main figures pushed forward as the first act began. There was some hope, but it didn’t last long because October’s preliminary U.S. consumer confidence poll showed something shocking that shook the financial system. Even though there was a small rise, The Dow had problems. When the drama in the Middle East was going on at the same time, everyone took notice.
After Hamas’s bold moves, Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip changed the political landscape. In reaction, the UN said that Israel’s demand for the people of Gaza to leave was clearly impossible and warned of a coming humanitarian disaster.
Investors looked for safety in the U.S. Treasury prices, and the 5.8% rise in the price of U.S. crude oil showed that people didn’t want to take risks. Lauren Goodwin, an experienced economist and portfolio manager at New York Life Investments, saw that the way that bond prices, stock prices, and oil prices all changed at the same time showed that people were worried about the global economy, the state of consumers’ confidence, and political unrest.
Goodwin said that the dance of leadership changes is normal for the business right now when there is a lot of good news that will start to fade in the coming months. She said that no one market story was always getting people’s attention. But since there hadn’t been a major worsening of the Middle East problem, the analyst lowered expectations and didn’t say that Friday’s mood was the start of a volatile market.
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When the market closed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had hit 33,670.29 points, a small gain of 0.12%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.23% most and ended the day at 13,407.23 points. The S&P 500 also lost some ground, 0.50%, and ended the day at 4,327.78.
With a 0.45% rise, the SP 500 continued to be strong this week, making it its second straight weekly win. On the other hand, the Nasdaq only went down by 0.18%, but the Dow gained a strong gain of 0.79%, ending a two-week losing streak.
It was the only one of the S&P’s 11 big industry sectors to show growth, with a strong 2.3% rise thanks to higher oil prices. Following suit, utility stocks and consumer staples, seen as defensive bases, increased by 1% and 0.8%, respectively. Gold, which has always been a safe place, rose during this flight.
With the help of higher interest rates, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup reported quarterly profits higher than experts had expected. Wells Fargo went up by 3% and JPMorgan by 1.5%. But Citigroup had a rough day and ended down by 0.2%.
After a strong run, the S&P 500 Banks index fell to a 0.6% close. It was close to a 3.4% peak and a three-week high.
Reading the signs of inflation, President Patrick Harker of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that the central bank’s plan to raise interest rates is on hold because price pressures are easing.
BlackRock saw a 1.3% drop in the detailed information of individual stocks, which came after a big drop in quarterly net gains. But UnitedHealth stood out as a great performance, securing a 2.6% rise after making more money than expected in the third quarter.
When former CEO Todd Vasos took over after Chief Executive Jeff Owen was fired, Dollar General did amazingly, increasing by 9%.
Even though there were problems with recent production, Boeing’s stock dropped 3%, and Spirit AeroSystems’ stock dropped 0.9% because of the ongoing probe into the 737 Max 8 plane.
On the New York Stock Exchange, a table of declining issues did better than a table of problems rising by a ratio of 1.56 to 1. On the Nasdaq, decliners did better by a ratio of 1.68 to 1.
The S&P 500 set 12 new 52-week highs and 20 new lows in the complicated web of market highs and lows. The Nasdaq Composite saw 335 new lows and 28 new highs, which is a bigger move.
At the end of the trading day, 10.06 billion shares changed hands, a little less than the average of 10.37 billion shares traded over the previous 20 sessions.