The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.89 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 33,300.62; the S&P 500 lost 6.54 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 4,124.08; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 43.76 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 12,284.74. ― Reuters pic
Follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our Telegram channel and browser alerts for the latest news you need to know.
Saturday, 13 May 2023 8:49 AM MYT
NEW YORK May 13 ― US stocks ended slightly lower yesterday, led by weaker megacap shares following their recent rally, as data showed US consumer sentiment dropped to a six-month low.
The Dow was barely lower in its fifth straight day of declines, the blue-chip index’s longest losing streak in two months.
Tesla Inc shares fell 2.3 per cent after jumping more than 2 per cent on Thursday, when its CEO Elon Musk announced he had found a new chief executive for Twitter. Yesterday he tweeted that the job went to former NBC Universal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino.
The S&P 500 technology sector was down 0.2 per cent, while the consumer discretionary index fell 0.9 per cent.
Shares of Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc were among the biggest drags on the S&P 500, along with Tesla. The technology index is still up about 22 per cent so far this year.
“They’ve had an incredible run, so those valuation concerns are starting to manifest themselves,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“To their credit, they have strong balance sheets, they had decent first quarters, so their businesses seem to be holding up, but there comes a point where valuations do matter.”
May consumer sentiment dropped to its lowest since November as a standoff to raise the federal government’s borrowing cap added to worries about the economic outlook.
Investors are concerned that the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes could push the economy into recession. Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said Friday the Fed will probably need to raise rates further if inflation stays high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.89 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 33,300.62; the S&P 500 lost 6.54 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 4,124.08; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 43.76 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 12,284.74.
S&P 500 utilities and consumer staples were the leading sectors, both rising 0.4 per cent.
For the week, the Dow was down 1.1 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq rose 0.4 per cent.
The Congressional Budget Office said yesterday the US faces a “significant risk” of defaulting on payment obligations within the first two weeks of June without a debt ceiling increase.
Among yesterday’s gainers, News Corp shares rallied 8.5 per cent after the media conglomerate beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit.
First Solar Inc shares jumped 26.5 per cent after the solar panel maker acquired Sweden’s thin-film solar cell technology firm Evolar AB.
Volume on US exchanges was 9.33 billion shares, compared with the 10.65 billion full-session average over the last 20 trading days.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 1.46-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.49-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and 15 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 60 new highs and 239 new lows. ― Reuters
