Stocks suffer biggest weekly decline since March
A stampede out of tech stocks put the finishing touches on the worst week for the stock market since March. Economic worries also weighed on the market as new records set during the global health crisis fueled fears of slower business activity going forward.
The Dow fell 157 points. The S&P 500 gave up 40 points. And the Nasdaq was slammed by 274 points.
Stocks have fallen for the past two months and that could have implications for next week's elections, says Strategic Wealth Partners Senior Wealth Advisor Tony Zabiegala.
"If you look back in history, the S&P 500 from August 3rd to November 3rd - that three month span, if it's positive, the incumbent wins 87 percent of the time, OK? If it's negative, the current president is replaced by its opponent. So right today, on Friday, today it went negative. So there's a signal there saying that Trump may lose. And then if you start looking at some of the sectors that would benefit from a Biden win, they have been doing very well the last few weeks and vice versa, the Trump trade, you know, the stocks that would be good in a Trump victory have been selling off."
Investors were picky when it came to hi-tech earnings. Facebook, Apple and Amazon each beat forecasts, but not without a few hiccups. Apple had weak iPhone sales, Facebook gave a disappointing outlook and costs are going up at Amazon...
and with those stocks up 25 to 60 percent so far this year investors did not get the absolute perfection they were looking for.
Facebook shed 6 percent.
Apple and Amazon lost more than 5 percent.
But that was nothing compared to Twitter. The micro-blogging site slumped 21 percent after signing up fewer subscribers than hoped for.
The one bright spot in tech-land: Google parent Alphabet. The stock jumped nearly 4 percent as a resumption in ad-buying boosted sales.
