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Stocks - Dow Ends Brutal Week Deeply in Red Amid Government Shutdown Fears

Published 12/21/2018, 03:53 PM
Updated 12/21/2018, 04:43 PM
© Reuters.

Investing.com - The Dow ended a brutal week with a steep selloff Friday as President Donald Trump threatened a "very long" government shutdown just hours ahead of the midnight deadline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8%, and 6.4% for the week. The S&P 500 fell 2.14%. While the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.99% and entered bear-market territory for the first time since 2008 as it has lost more than 20% since its August peak.

President Trump told reporters that there's a very good chance the House funding bill will fail to pass in the Senate and that the administration is prepared for a long shutdown.

The bill requires Democratic votes to clear the Senate, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stressed that congressional Democrats will not support funding for the wall, raising the prospect of a partial government shutdown.

The selloff was led by tech on the back of a plunge in Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), off 6%, as Wall Street continued to be bearish on the scandal-hit social media company.

Needham cut its price on target on Facebook stock to $170 from $215 on expectations for ongoing margin pressure and the rising risk of increased litigation costs and regulatory oversight as global scrutiny on the social media company intensifies.

The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Wednesday that Karl Racine, attorney general for the District of Columbia, filed a claim against the Facebook for farming out its users' data to Cambridge Analytica.

Among other FANG stocks, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 5.5%, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 3.2% and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) fell 5.7%.

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But there was some reason for optimism as Nike (NYSE:NKE) surged 7% on the back of its better-than-expected fiscal second quarter earnings and revenue, sparking a bid a in retailer Foot Locker (NYSE:FL), which rose 1.75%.

Analysts said Nike's report highlighted key positives for Foot Locker including the Jordan brand returning to growth in North America, continued product innovation launches and clean North American channel inventory.

Wall Street reversed early session gains, which had followed decidedly dovish comments from New York Fed President John Williams.

Williams said the Federal Reserve will go into next year with its “eyes wide open” and reconsider programs such as its balance sheet reduction in the event of a weaker backdrop for economic growth.

Mixed economic data, meanwhile, drew a muted reaction somewhat as U.S. gross domestic product increased at a 3.4% annual rate in the July-September period, the Commerce Department said in its final estimate, below a previous estimate of 3.5%.

The Fed's preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index excluding food and energy, rose 1.9% in the 12 months through November.

Top S&P 500 Gainers and Losers Today:

Nike (NYSE:NKE), CarMax (NYSE:KMX) and Abiomed (NASDAQ:ABMD) were among the top S&P 500 gainers for the session.

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO), ConAgra Foods (NYSE:CAG) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) were among the worst S&P 500 performers of the session.

Latest comments

govt shutdownis but the issue but it is bcoz of trade war that Trump created. He will make this world collapse.
China's growth has tapered off, a sure sign that tariffs are hurting. They will be forced to negotiate as long as the markets and politicians and bureaucrats strengthen the hands of the administration. The real adversary is China, and not Russia or Iran any longer. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better it would be. The markets are deeply in oversold territory and for no logical reason. They may remain subdued for a while, but it will be short-lived and value buying will emerge soon enough.
Really?? you're blaming the shutdown for the selloff??
US should maintain good economic growth, but once growing, the Fed began to raise rates until collapsed. In 2003-2008, at the beginning, the Fed did not raise interest rates too much, resulting in asset bubbles, and finally raise interest rates and collapse. People know that interest rates will be high finally, so they slow down the economic activities in advance and enter the recession early. In order to maintain growth and prevent asset bubbles, the government needs to formulate additional rules, such as differentiated interest rates for entity enterprise or bubble assets, for example, real estate bubbles often cause big problems, if people buy the second home and more, need to pay higher interest rates, and as well as financial leverage needs to be lowered. If inflation rises, the Fed can reduce its monthly balance sheet to control currency circulation, and try not to raise interest rates. Maintaining stable interest rates can maintain stable economic growth.
it's just the beginning of a major correction and selloff. Long overdue. Tech and Bank usually first to go down.. Better Hedge with Gold/Silver, McDonald's and Walmart or $DOG. Also Dec-Feb usually good support for Gold/Silver, from gifts for xmas and new year presents to Chinese and Japanese and other Asian New Year celebrations. India big buyers also around festivals generally.
do you really think it's a beginning, if it is then what was those 20% lost already?
"dropped 2.99% and entered bear-market territory for the first time since 2008" as thy say
if you study Elliott wave, you would understand that the market top based on prediction of the 2009 low to the 2011 high would be (Su0026P) 2750. Isnu0027t that when all the smart money left the market? we are now heading to 1600-1800. there will be a rally soon before continuing down. Has nothing to do with Trump and everything to do with social psychology.
Guess it doesnu0027t like special characters. S and p, and isnt
I didn't get what you said...
The Fed and the executive's current policies have driven us into a bear market!
All of the wealth "created" earlier in the year was borrowed from posterity. It is now being repaid. Modern Americans may have to make do with a "great life" rather than a "awesomely superdeeduper life".
The Fed and the executive's current policies have driven us into a bear market!
I'm getting really tired of these sick individuals who are loving every minute of Trump failing because they hate him. They don't even care about all of the people who's retirement funds are destroyed. Who will have to live in poverty if the market crashes. They just want to see Trump fail.
...would be so insane?
Nobody wants to admit that alot of the "wealth is fictitious", but then cry when this fact is exposed.
Trump imploding, big surprise
Trump, nothing to do with it.
The government shutdown has nothing to do with it. Markets gained 3% last shutdown.... Quit playing politics!
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