Continued oil weakness and options expiration-related volatility combined to send stocks in a tailspin.
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The biggest drag on the financial index, Berkshire Hathaway BRkb.N , was down 2.4 percent, while Wells Fargo WFC.N , and Citigroup C.N were down more than 2 percent and JPMorgan JPM.N was off 1.9 percent.
The Dow closed at 17,128, while the broader-based S&P 500 gave up 36 points to finish the week on 2,006 and the tech-laced Nasdaq Composite surrendered 79 points to close at 4,923.
“It’s a confluence of all the factors: oil prices continuing to run down, the Chinese trying to counteract the dollar and everyone is digesting, globally, what the Fed’s announcement means for emerging markets and everything else”, said J J Feldman, portfolio manager at Miracle Mile Advisors in Los Angeles.
USA stocks dropped yesterday on persistent concern over faltering global economic growth, led by declines in energy and materials shares, a day after shares had rallied on the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates.
All however one of many ten main business sectors of the S&P 500 traded greater, with utilities the most important proportion gainer on a 2.6 % advance. The blue-chip index booked a 0.8% loss over the week.
BTIG’s downgrade comes as Disney climbed 19% this year before today compared to the S&P 500 Index that has fallen 1.7% and the S&P 500 Media Index, which has dropped 5% in 2016 even as it includes Disney.
The selling pressure also came amid a “quadruple witching” Friday, a day when stock and index options and stock and index futures all expire. Exxon and Chevron shares were down less than 1 percent in premarket trading. The Dow Jones average is headed for a triple digit fall and is tipped to open at 17,392, down 104 points.
Red Hat was up 6.5 percent at $84.02 after it raised its full-year revenue forecast for a second time.
Global markets fell on Friday, with investors turning wary about the impact of a stronger dollar and weakening commodity prices on the global economy. Among consumer discretionary companies, CarMax Inc. tumbled 9.1 percent, the most in nearly three months, after the used-car dealer’s quarterly results missed estimates.
The US central bank on Wednesday announced raising benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, the first rate hike since 2006, marking the end of an era of extraordinary easing monetary policies.
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FedEx rose 2 per cent after reporting that earnings for the quarter ending Nov 30 rose 4.2 per cent to US$691 million.
