Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street, marking their third losing week in the last four. Banks, technology companies and industrials all helped pull major indexes lower Friday. The S&P 500 gave up 1%. The Nasdaq sliped 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%. After pushing the S&P 500 to a record high last week, investors have been taking money off the table as the Federal Reserve moves to dial back stimulus and fight inflation with interest rate increases starting some time next year. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.41%.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Banks and big technology stocks are leading another decline on Wall Street in afternoon trading Friday and every major index is on track for a weekly loss.
The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 3:35 p.m. Eastern. Roughly 67% of stocks within the benchmark index were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 462 points, or 1.3%, to 35,434. The Nasdaq slid 0.2%.
After pushing the S&P 500 to a record high last week, investors have been taking money off the table as the Federal Reserve moves to dial back stimulus and fight inflation. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are headed for their third weekly drop in the last four.
Technology stocks have been leading the losses as Wall Street prepares for rising interest rates. Oracle slid 6.9% for the biggest decline in the S&P 500, while Adobe fell 2.6%.
Large technology companies often have lofty valuations based on assumptions about their profitability going far into the future. Those valuations are typically more acceptable to investors when interest rates remain low, but become less desirable as interest rates rise.
The Federal Reserve has signaled plans to speed up its reduction in monthly bond purchases that have helped keep interest rates low. The shift in policy sets the stage for the Fed to begin raising rates sometime next year.
“The cat is kind of out of the bag now and it seems like inflation is something that’s going to be more persistent in 2022,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management.
Smaller company stocks fared better than the broader market, sending the Russell 2000 index 1% higher.
Bond yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 1.41% from 1.42% late Thursday. That weighed down banks, which rely on higher yields to charge more lucrative interest on loans. JPMorgan Chase fell 2.3%.
Losses were broad throughout other sectors. A wide range of retailers, household goods makers and industrial firms also fell. Home Depot slid 2.8%, Procter & Gamble fell 1.4% and Caterpillar dropped 2%.
Sectors considered less risky held up better than the rest of the market. Real estate stocks rose slightly. Losses weren’t as severe for utilities and materials companies.
Some travel-related stocks, including cruise line operators, rose. Royal Caribbean gained 6.2%, Norwegian Cruise Line rose 5.3% and Carnival gained 4.4%.
The price of U.S. crude oil dropped 2.1% amid a broad pullback in energy futures. Stocks in the S&P 500’s energy sector mostly fell. Chevron was down 1.9%.
European and Asian markets closed mostly lower.
Wall Street is also gauging the potential impact from surging coronavirus cases with the new omicron variant. Public health experts in Europe have been urging greater precautions amid the latest wave.
Investors are also considering heightened tensions between China and U.S. amid an already strained global supply chain. In the U.S., Congress approved legislation barring all imports from China’s Xinjiang region unless businesses can prove they were produced without forced labor.
