After Respite Stocks Back To Weekly Losses

A week after breaking long weekly losing streaks, the stock market is back to its losing ways, with the DOW falling 348.58 points, or -1.05%, to 32,899.70. The S&P 500 slipped by -1.63% to 4,108.54, and the NASDAQ fell -2.47% to end the week at 12,012.73.

On a weekly level, the DOW lost -0.94; the S&P fell -1.20%, and the NASDAQ wrapped up the weekly losses with a loss of -0.98%.

But why the losses? Continue reading "After Respite Stocks Back To Weekly Losses"

Stocks Rise On Slowing Inflation Report

The Fed's preferred inflation gauge's core personal consumption expenditures price index rose 4.9% from a year ago in April, in line with estimates and a deceleration from March when the inflation gauge stood at 5.2%. While still elevated, the report indicates that price pressures could be easing a bit, as reported by the Commerce Department reported Friday.

However, the report/number excludes volatile food and energy prices that have significantly contributed to inflation running around a 40-year peak. If you include food and energy, headline PCE increased 6.3% in April from a year ago. That also was a deceleration from the 6.6% pace in the previous month. However, the monthly change showed a more marked pullback, increasing just 0.2% compared with the 0.9% surge in March. Continue reading "Stocks Rise On Slowing Inflation Report"

S&P 500 Flirts With Bear Market

The S&P 500 and stock market were under heavy pressure in early trading as the "R" word was thrown around. The S&P 500 was down as much as -2.3% earlier in the session. At the day's lows, the S&P 500 was -20.9% below its intraday high in January, which would signal an entry into a bear market.

There's no official bear market designation on Wall Street. Some will count Friday's decline at the intraday lows as confirmation of a bear market, whereas some may say it's not official until it closes -20% off its high. Regardless, it's the biggest downturn of this magnitude since the rapid bear market in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

The S&P 500 finished +0.01% higher to 3,901.36 on Friday. The DOW rose 8.77 points, or +0.03%, to 31,261.90, and the NASDAQ fell -0.30% to finish the week at 11,354.62. Continue reading "S&P 500 Flirts With Bear Market"

Bitcoin Falls For Its 6th Straight Week

Bitcoin fought hard to stay around the 30K level on Friday but fell just below that level as the stock market closed on Friday, trading in the 29K range. Unfortunately, it was also unable to escape the crypto bears grip this week, trading as low as 25,401.05, and will end up having its sixth straight week of declines, a record run. The last time it traded this low was in December of 2020.

As for stocks, the market rebounded Friday after suffering heavy losses on the week, with the DOW rising 466.36 points to 32,196.66, or +1.47%. The S&P 500 gained +2.39% to close at 4,023.89, and the NASDAQ jumped +3.82% to end the week at 11,805.00. Continue reading "Bitcoin Falls For Its 6th Straight Week"

DOW Drops For Sixth Straight Week

Choppy trading was the theme of the day on Friday after a dramatic week that saw the DOW post both its best and worst days since 2020, with the worst day being Thursday, when it dropped over 1,000 points. The DOW shed 98.60 points, or -0.30%, to finish at 32,899.37. The S&P 500 shed -0.57% to close at 4,123.34, while the NASDAQ fell -1.40% to end the week at 12,144.66.

The losses on Friday clinched a losing week for all three major indexes despite starting off the week with three straight positive sessions. The DOW finished down -0.24% for its sixth consecutive negative week. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ finished with losses of -0.21% and -1.54%, respectively, for their fifth straight losing week. Continue reading "DOW Drops For Sixth Straight Week"