Prepared by: Hisham Mukhana
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell for the sixth consecutive session on Friday, recording its longest losing streak in more than a year. The move down comes as chip stocks decline, deepening the market’s recent woes related to geopolitical conflict and persistent inflation.
The technology-heavy index fell 2.05% to 15,282.01 points, while the broader S&P index fell 0.88% to 4,967.23 points. On the other hand, the Dow Jones rose 211.02 points, or 0.56%, to 37,986.40 points, supported by the growth of American Express shares by more than 6% after the latest earnings report.
Chip stocks came under increasing pressure in afternoon trading on Friday, suggesting investors were taking turns exiting the sector that led the earlier bull market, with Nvidia stock recording its worst day since March 2020, with a loss of more than 10%. Shares of Super Micro Computer also fell more than 23%.
These moves come at a time when the S&P index recorded its worst weekly performance in nearly a year, amid growing concerns about the path of inflation and monetary policy.
With a loss of 3.85%, it was the third negative week in a row for the large-cap index, and a large part of its loss was largely related to tight expectations for interest rate cuts, as well as the technology sector, which was the worst performer in the S&P during the day and the week.
In turn, the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 5.5% of its value this week, recording its fourth consecutive week down, and the longest negative streak since December 2022. It is also representing the worst weekly performance for the Nasdaq since November 2022. With an increase in the last trading day, it reached the weekly gains of the Dow Jones with 0.89%. This is his first positive week in the last three weeks.
Economists and strategists now believe that the Fed will wait until at least September to reduce the cost of borrowing money. “There are several different trends that the market is working to accommodate,” said Bill Northey, chief investment officer at US Bank Wealth Management. “Inflation has been a little more difficult than the market expected, or even than the Fed expected. “
- European markets
European stock markets closed lower on Friday, ending a week in which rising tensions in the Middle East and a reevaluation of interest rate expectations were in the spotlight.
The Stoxx 600 index ended down 0.08% to 499.29 points (-1.31% for the week), and after a strong start to 2024, the European index is heading for its first monthly loss since October. Retail stocks lost 0.6% after UK retail sales performance declined in March, and steady from the previous month.
France’s “CAC” index also fell 0.01% to 8022.41 points (-0.31% for the week), as well as Germany’s “DAX” by 0.56% to 17737.36 points (-1.61% for the week), and the British “FTSE” rose 0.24% at 7895.85 points However, it decreased by 1.25% during the week.
Asian markets decline after Israel makes limited strike on Iran; High oil and gold prices
- Asia Pacific
Taiwan’s index led losses in Asia on Friday, falling 3.81% to close at 19,527.12 points, its lowest level in more than a month, with most of the region’s major markets lower.
In Japan, the Nikkei index fell by 2.66% (-4.75% for the week), paring previous losses to close at 37,068.35 points, while the broader Topix index also fell by 1.91% to 2,626.32 points. Japan released inflation data for March, with headline inflation at 2.7%, down from 2.8% in February.
In addition, South Korea’s “KOSPI” index fell 1.63%, and ended at 2591.86 points, while the “KOSDAC” index for small companies also closed down 1.61%, reaching 841.91 points.
As for Australia, the ASX 200 index lost 0.98% of its value at the end of the week’s trading, registering 7,567.3 points.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong did not contradict the context of the bleeding that happened, and it also lost 0.95% at 16,224.14 points.
- 3% is the biggest weekly loss for oil since February
Oil prices rose slightly on Friday, but suffered a weekly loss of 3%, the biggest weekly loss since February, after Iran downplayed suspected Israeli attacks on its territory, in a sign of that an increase in hostilities in the Middle East could be avoided.
Both crude oil standards rose by more than three dollars per barrel on Friday morning, after explosions were heard in the Iranian city of Isfahan, in what was described as an Israeli attack, but the gains after Tehran downplayed the incident and said it had no plans to respond.
At the end, Brent crude futures rose 18 cents, or 0.21 percent, at settlement to $87.29 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery rose 41 cents, or 0.5 percent, to reach $83.14 a barrel in settlement.
The most actively traded futures contract for June delivery rose 12 cents to $82.22 a barrel.
“It was just a big show, so the markets fell as quickly as they rose,” said Tim Snyder, an economist at Matador Economics. Investors were closely monitoring Israel’s response to the drone and missile attacks from Iran on April 13, which came in response to a suspected Israeli air strike on April 1 on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus.
American lawmakers included sanctions on Iranian oil exports as part of an upcoming aid package for Ukraine following Iran’s attack on Israel over the weekend.
Reuters data shows that Iran is the third largest oil producing country in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The media reported on Friday that the International Monetary Fund expects the OPEC+ alliance to start increasing oil production starting in July.
2024-04-20 19:27:19
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