U.S. equities extended a rout Monday after stocks booked consecutive weekly losses for the first time since late September.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid 0.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) declined around 160 points, or 0.5%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) tumbled 1.5%. All three major averages fell for a fourth straight day to six-week lows.
Monday’s moves continue a sell-off from last week that came after Federal Reserve officials delivered a half percentage point increase to their overnight policy rate. Fed Chair Jerome Powell also emphasized that interest rate increases would continue into the new year, and policy will remain restrictive for as long as needed to rein in inflation that still remains high – even if it means economic consequences.
The S&P 500 shed 2.1%, the Dow 1.7%, and the Nasdaq 2.7% for the week.
“Data showing inflation cooling may have given the market a short-lived boost, but the Fed standing firm with Powell driving home the point that rates could remain elevated for quite a while likely grounded some investors,” Chris Larkin, managing director of trading at Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE, said in a note.
In other areas of the market, U.S. Treasury yields moved higher, while the U.S. dollar index retreated. Oil rose, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rising nearly 2% to trade above $75 per barrel.
Tesla’s (TSLA) stock closed just below flat after rising and falling as much as 3% earlier in the session following CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter poll asking whether he should step down as head of the social media platform he recently acquired. Oppenheimer downgraded the stock and called sentiment “severely damaged.”
Last week, shares of Tesla plunged 16% — marking its worst week since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 — over concerns about Musk’s management of Twitter and sales of Tesla stock.
Megacaps were also under pressure, with Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG) each down more than 1.5%. Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) fell 4.1% after the European Union charged the company with breaching antitrust laws by distorting competition in markets for online classified advertising.
AMC Entertainment (AMC) sank below $5, the lowest since March 2021.
The company announced Monday that it raised over $162 million from its AMC Preferred Equity units (APE) since since inception of the program a few months ago, using proceeds to pay down debt and fund strategic acquisitions.
Elsewhere, Disney’s (DIS) shares declined 4.8% to the lowest since March 2020 after “Avatar: The Way of Water” missed industry expectations of $170 million-plus in revenue for the opening weekend.
Shares of Coinbase (COIN) touched a record low of $34.64 during the session and closed down 3.9%.
The U.S. central bank’s messaging about sustained, restrictive …….
