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U.S. stocks fell on Friday, extending losses from earlier in the week and putting the S&P 500 on the cusp of a bear market. The relentless selling has the Dow Jones Industrial Average on pace for its eighth negative week in a row.
The 30-stock index fell 206.86 points by noon EDT to 31,046.27.
For the week, the Dow is off by 3.7% for what would be its first eight-week losing streak since 1923 as relentless selling has taken over Wall Street the last two months.
The S&P 500 weakened another 31.25 points to 3,869.54.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% on Thursday and is now about 19% below a record closing high set in early January. This would be the first bear market — defined by many on Wall Street as a 20% drop from a high — since the pandemic decline of March 2020.
The NASDAQ Composite lurched lower 120.22 points, or 1.1%, to 11,268.27.
The NASDAQ and S&P 500 are on pace to fall for a seventh-straight week, losing about 4% each.
Wall Street dumped shares of semiconductor stocks Friday. Shares of Nvidia fell 5%, Advanced Micro Devices declined 4%, and Marvell Technology slipped more than 2%.
Bank stocks also declined. Shares of JPMorgan Chase dropped 1% and Bank of America fell nearly 2%.
Elsewhere, shares of Deere also fell 7% on Friday after the heavy equipment maker reported a revenue miss. However, the company beat on earnings estimates and raised its annual profit outlook. Shares of Caterpillar also declined more than 3%.
Ross Stores was the latest retailer to fall after posting earnings. The stock was down 20%. CEO Barbara Rentler said that “following a stronger-than-planned start early in the period, sales underperformed over the balance of the quarter.”
Treasury prices gained ground, lowering yields to 2.81% from Thursday’s 2.85%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 52 cents to $112.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $!.40 to $1,842.60 U.S. an ounce.
