Topline
The market finished lower in volatile trading on Friday, posting a third straight week of losses as investors continued to unload shares of large tech companies.
Tech stocks continued to drag the market lower.
Key Facts
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.88%, nearly 250 points, on Friday, while the S&P 500 fell 1.12% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.07%.
The major averages posted a third straight week of losses, their longest weekly losing streaks since last year.
Tech stocks again dragged the market lower: Shares of Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet all fell by 2% or more, while Facebook lost nearly 1%.
Shares of Oracle, which is trying to buy a minority stake in TikTok-parent ByteDance, declined 0.3% after the Trump administration said it would block all TikTok and WeChat downloads in the United States on Sunday.
Market sentiment also took a hit from ongoing uncertainty around the next fiscal stimulus bill from Congress, as Republicans and Democrats are still struggling to agree on the size and provisions of the relief package.
What’s more, there are also rising fears of a second wave of coronavirus cases, much like what appears to be currently happening in Europe, which is facing a “very serious situation” as countries like Spain and France see an alarming rise in new cases of coronavirus, according to the WHO.
Crucial Quote
“The urge to find a fundamental scapegoat is sending people back to usual sources of negativity, including COVID and the Fed, but tech is still the main culprit,” said Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, in a note. “The tech façade was breached back on 9/3 and the Nasdaq has been trading poorly ever since... there’s still summer excesses in the index that have to be wrung out and given the enormous weighting of that industry, it can’t descend without creating collateral damage.”
Key Background
Friday’s losses followed a volatile session on Thursday, in which tech stocks also struggled and dragged the market lower. The Dow fell by 0.5%, the S&P 500 by 0.8% and the Nasdaq by 1.3%.
Further Reading
Dow Falls Nearly 150 Points As Tech Stocks Drag Market Lower (Forbes)
Stocks Will Take A Hit From Second Wave Of Coronavirus, Wall Street Firm Warns Clients (Forbes)
Penn National Gaming Stock Can Surge Higher Thanks To ‘Portnoy Momentum Trade,’ Stifel Says (Forbes)
S&P 500 Turns Negative Despite Federal Reserve’s Promise To Keep Interest Rates Near Zero Until 2023 (Forbes)
