Topline
Markets surged Friday, paring back some of the heavy losses in recent days as investors helped the benchmark S&P 500 stay clear of bear market territory, though stocks are still on track for their sixth consecutive week of losses amid the brutal sell-off this year.
Stocks are on one of their longest weekly losing streaks since at least 2001.
Key Facts
Stocks widely rebounded, paring back some of the heavy losses from earlier in the week: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4%, over 400 points, while the S&P 500 jumped 2.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 3.9%.
Consumer, technology and energy stocks led the broad market rally on Friday, with all 11 sectors in the S&P 500 moving higher despite the index hitting a new low point for 2022 a day earlier.
Barring the “epic rally on the final trading day of the week, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq will put in their sixth straight week of losses today,” one of the longest weekly losing streaks since at least 2001, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group.
Despite the rebound, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq have all fallen by 2% or more this week thanks to heavy selloffs in recent sessions, as investors have largely continued to offload stocks amid increased market uncertainty.
Beaten-down tech stocks, which have led market declines this year, jumped on Friday: Facebook-parent Meta, Netflix, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet all rose by around 4% or more.
Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla shot up over 7%, while two heavily-shorted meme stocks, GameStop and AMC Entertainment, surged by 12% and 7%, respectively.
Tangent:
Shares of popular stock trading app Robinhood, which have struggled amid depressed user growth on the platform, jumped over 20% on Friday. The surge followed news that billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, disclosed a 7.6% stake in the company.
What To Watch For:
Shares of social media company Twitter fell over 8% after Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, who had a $44 billion takeover accepted last month, said he would be putting the deal “temporarily on hold.” Musk cited concerns about the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter, saying that he is waiting on more details from the company.
Key Background:
Markets have been under relentless pressure thanks to growing concerns about an economic slowdown, with the Federal Reserve scrambling to raise interest rates and combat surging inflation. The S&P 500 has fallen 16% so far this year, putting the benchmark index on the edge of bear market territory (20% below record highs). The Dow is down nearly 12% in 2022, while the Nasdaq has dropped 29%, well into bear market territory.
Further Reading:
S&P 500 Hits New 2022 Low As ‘Staggering’ Market Losses Continue (Forbes)
Elon Musk Says Twitter Deal ‘On Hold’ (Forbes)
Meme Stocks Surge Despite Market Selloff: GameStop Trading Halted, AMC Jumps (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sergeiklebnikov/2022/05/13/stocks-rebound-taking-a-breather-from-selloff-but-markets-are-down-for-the-sixth-week-in-a-row/