S&P 500 returns to 5,000 area at wild end of week: Markets wrap

(Bloomberg) — The stock market came under renewed pressure as major technology companies sold off, with traders remaining cautious about geopolitical risks ahead of the weekend.

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The S&P 500 tested the 5,000 level on Friday. If the stock index finishes lower, it will be the sixth straight decline — the longest losing streak since October 2022. Netflix Inc. Due to bearish expectations, while Apple Inc. to its lowest close in almost a year. Stocks had rebounded earlier as recent tensions in the Middle East were contained.

“We hope it will be possible to avoid open conflict. However, nothing can be taken for granted,” said Fouad Razaqzadeh of City Index and Forex.com. “Markets may remain on edge, especially given the weekend risks that Looming. Just last Saturday, Iran attacked Israel.”

The latest moves cap a bleak week for markets after strong economic readings and a hawkish Fed policy forced investors to review the timing of a highly anticipated pivot to easier policy and the size of potential interest rate cuts. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said progress on inflation has stalled, which is worth pausing to allow incoming data to provide more information about how the economy is evolving.

10-year Treasury yields fell 2 basis points to 4.61% – almost erasing an earlier decline of 14 basis points. The dollar fluctuated. Oil traded well off session highs.

The stock market is headed for its third straight weekly decline, the longest losing streak since September.

“The stock market has fallen in recent weeks as expectations of interest rate cuts have fallen significantly, and it is not surprising that investors are taking some profits after the strong market performance we saw during the first quarter,” said Michael Landsberg, chief investment officer at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth. administration.

Good economic news is now bad news for stocks, a shift in mindset from the first quarter when “good news = good,” the Bank of America Corp. team led by Michael Hartnett wrote in a note. Evidence of this is that investors redeemed $21.1 billion from equity funds in the two weeks through Wednesday, the most in two weeks since December 2022, Bank of America said, citing data from EPFR Global.

Economists in the latest monthly Bloomberg poll cut the probability of a recession in the next 12 months to 30% — the smallest probability since June 2022 and down from 35% last month.

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The poll showed that the upper end of the Federal Reserve's target range for its benchmark interest rate, currently at 5.5%, would fall to just 4% by the end of 2025. That's half a percentage point higher than respondents expected just a month ago. The average forecast shows just two quarter-point cuts this year.

The global economy is in good shape despite geopolitical risks, with rising interest rates and strong employment and growth benefiting lenders in particular, said Ana Botin, CEO of Banco Santander SA.

“We have had a super soft landing so far,” Putin said in an interview with Bloomberg TV from Washington. “So far, so good.”

The most prominent features of the company:

• Procter & Gamble, maker of Pampers diapers and Dawn dish soap, reported quarterly sales that fell short of Wall Street estimates, overshadowing improving earnings expectations.

• SLB, the world's largest oil services provider, said it is bracing for a rebound in activity in the Northern Hemisphere during the second quarter after starting the year with a typical seasonal slowdown.

• The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident in which a passenger was apparently allowed unauthorized entry into the cockpit of a United Airlines Holdings Inc. charter flight. From Denver to Toronto.

• The founding family of Nordstrom Inc. has notified The Board of Directors expressed its interest in converting the company into a private company.

• Mondi Plc has withdrawn from a potential bidding battle for rival British packaging company DS Smith Plc, a move that secured a deal for International Paper Co, which had submitted a US bid.

Some key movements in the markets:

Stores

• The S&P 500 was down 0.1% as of 10:46 a.m. New York time

• The Nasdaq 100 index fell 0.8%.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%

• The Stoxx Europe 600 index was little changed

• MSCI World Index fell 0.3%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.0675

• There was little change in the pound sterling at $1.2444

• There was little change in the Japanese yen at 154.58 to the dollar

Digital currencies

• Bitcoin rose 1.8% to $64,687.03

• Ethereum rose 0.9% to $3,096.4

Bonds

• The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 2 points to 4.61%.

• The yield on 10-year German bonds rose one basis point to 2.51%.

• The yield on British 10-year bonds fell by three basis points to 4.24%.

Goods

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $83.10 a barrel

• Spot gold rose 0.5 percent to $2,390.57 per ounce

This story was produced with assistance from Bloomberg Automation.

– With the help of Farah Al-Bahrawi.

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