Benzinga - by Piero Cingari, Benzinga Staff Writer.
U.S. stocks are experiencing declines this Friday, on track of ending another week of negative performance.
The Nasdaq 100 has dropped over 5% this week, potentially marking its most significant decline since late October 2022, while the S&P 500 faces its sixth consecutive day of losses, the longest such streak since September 2022, with concerns over interest rates, corporate earnings, and geopolitical tensions weighing on investor sentiment.
Industry-wise, semiconductor stocks, tracked by the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SMH) are down 2.7%, eyeing weekly declines of about 8%, marking the most significant drop since June 2022.
Israel carried out limited retaliation against Iran overnight, targeting a location near an air base facility without causing significant damage.
Yields on shorter-dated U.S. Treasury bonds remain stable at around 5%, maintaining levels seen since mid-November 2023, amid Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell‘s staunch opposition to rate cuts.
Gold prices surged to $2,400 per ounce amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, while oil prices stabilized after an initial rise following the Israeli strike.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) saw a modest increase of over 1%, with the crypto community anticipating the upcoming halving event.
Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day %chg |
| Dow Jones | 38,001.61 | 0.6% |
| Russell 2000 | 1,947.93 | 0.0% |
| S&P 500 | 4,984.63 | -0.5% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 17,127.17 | -1.5% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) fell 0.4% to $496.85, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.5%% to $379.83 and the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) tumbled 1.5% to $417.03 according to Benzinga Pro data.
Sector-wise, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) outperformed, up 1.6%, followed by the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE), up 1.3%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) was the major laggard, down 1.5%.
Friday’s Stock Movers
- Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) rocketed 13% on rumors that Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) and Sony Group Corp. (NYSE:SONY) are mulling a joint bid for the company.
- Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) dropped 18% as the company announced its third-quarter earnings date, but it did not provide preliminary estimates.
- Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) saw a fall of nearly 9% despite beating Street estimates last quarter. Investors negatively reacted to the company’s plans to cease providing quarterly disclosures on subscriber growth or average revenue per member starting next year.
- Other companies reacting to earnings were American Express Co. (NYSE:AXP) up 5.5%, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB) up 5.6%, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN) up 1.5% Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF) down 0.7%, Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) flat, and Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB), down 1.5%.
- Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was 0.5% lower after the EV-maker recalled thousands of Cybertrucks due to an accelerator pedal problem.
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