- Amazon crashes after results and prospects fall short
- Apple slips after delivery issues are reported
- Monthly inflation has risen the most since 2005
- Index end: S&P 500 -3.63%, Nasdaq -4.17%, Dow -2.77%
April 29 – Wall Street slid to its deepest one-day losses since 2020 on Friday, as Amazon collapsed after a dismal quarterly report and the biggest spike in monthly inflation since 2005 spooked investors already worried about rising interest rates.
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) plunged 14.05% in its steepest one-day loss since 2006, leaving the widely held stock near a two-year low. Late Thursday, the e-commerce giant presented a disappointing quarter and outlook, swept by higher expenses.
Apple Inc (AAPL.O), the world’s most valuable company, fell 3.66% after its disappointing outlook overshadowed record quarterly earnings and sales.
All 11 sector indexes in the S&P 500 fell, led by a 5.9% decline in consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) and a 4.9% decline in real estate (.SPLRCR).
The S&P 500 posted its biggest single-day drop since June 2020. The Nasdaq’s drop was its biggest since September 2020.
Poor results and worries about aggressive monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve have hit megacap tech and growth stocks this month.
The Fed is due to meet next week, with traders betting on a 50 basis point rate hike to combat rising inflation.
Ahead of the weekend and next week’s Fed meeting, “people are clearing the decks. Disappointing forecasts from Apple and Amazon and a few other companies yesterday set the stage for weakness today, and it was accelerating as we ended the day,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia .
The Nasdaq (.IXIC) is down about 13% in April, its worst monthly performance since the global financial crisis of 2008.
The S&P 500 is down 13% so far in 2022, its steepest four-month decline since 1939.
Adding to concerns on Wall Street, data showed that the consumer price index — the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — rose 0.9% in March after rising 0.5% in February. Continue reading
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S. April 4, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
Signs of aggressive monetary tightening, the Ukraine war and China’s COVID lockdowns have fueled fears of an economic slowdown. Data on Thursday showed that the US economy contracted unexpectedly in the first quarter. Continue reading
The S&P 500 fell 3.63% to end the session at 4,131.93 points.
The Nasdaq fell 4.17% to 12,334.64 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.77% to 32,977.21 points.
Over the week, the S&P 500 lost 3.3%, the Nasdaq 3.9% and the Dow 2.5%.
The S&P 500’s busiest trades
The S&P 500 has gained or lost 2% or more in one day about 33 times so far in 2022, compared to 24 such days in all of 2021.
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) slipped 2.24% after taking a $3.4 billion writedown on its exit from Russia. Chevron Corp (CVX.N) fell 3.16% after underwhelming first-quarter earnings. Continue reading
The Q1 reporting season has been better than expected overall so far. Nearly half of S&P 500 companies reported through Thursday, and 81% of them beat Wall Street expectations. According to data from Refinitiv, only 66% typically beat estimates.
Declining issues predominated on the NYSE at a 3.91 to 1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, a 2.85 to 1 ratio favored losers.
The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and 47 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite posted 13 new highs and 385 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 12.4 billion shares, compared to an average of 11.8 billion over the past 20 trading days.
(This story corrects the 10th paragraph to show the S&P 500 YTD decline comparable to 1939, not 1932.)
Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Edited by Arun Koyyur, Aditya Soni and David Gregorio