After reaching record highs, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell on Friday due to falling chip stocks and a mixed labor market data that showed more new jobs than expected and a rising unemployment rate.
Late morning, the S&P and Nasdaq lost momentum after briefly reaching new highs. After reaching an intraday record high, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (.SOX) fell 4%.
Nvidia (NVDA.O) snapped a six-session winning streak by falling 5.6%. Up over 5% early in the session. Broadcom (AVGO.O) fell 7% after its full-year prediction disappointed investors, and Marvell Technology (MRVL.O) fell 11.4% after it forecast first-quarter results below market expectations on lackluster demand.
After nonfarm payrolls rose 275,000 in February, compared to 200,000 predicted, stocks rose. January positions were downgraded. After three months at 3.7%, the unemployment rate climbed to 3.9% in February, while wage growth slowed to 0.1%.
February, while wage growth slowed to 0.1%. "Today is just profit taking," said Commonwealth Financial Network head of investment management Brian Price, calling the week "a microcosm of the year so far" with mild pullbacks and buyers.
Costco Wholesale (COST.O), opens new tab shares slumped 7.6% as quarterly sales fell short of projections owing to weak demand for higher-margin goods, Price noted. Price stated "the general bias right now is for the market to continue to move higher, absent negative catalysts." Next week's February CPI and retail sales statistics will shed light on rate reduction. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated Thursday that the central bank was "not far" from dropping interest rates due to declining inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 68.66 points, or 0.18%, to 38,722.69, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 33.67 points, or 0.65%, to 5,123.69, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) plummeted 188.26 points, or 1.16%, to 16,085.11. Tech (.SPLRCT), opens new tab, slumped 1.8%, followed by consumer staples (.SPLRCS), opens new tab, which sank 0.8%, dragged down by Costco. The S&P 500 decreased 0.26%, Nasdaq 1.17%, and Dow 0.93% during the week.
On NYSE, advancing issues outpaced decliners 1.25-to-1 with 708 new highs and 48 new lows. On Nasdaq, 2,086 stocks climbed and 2,192 fell as decliners outweighed advancers 1.05-to-1. The S&P 500 had 65 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq had 351 and 83. U.S. exchanges traded 12.29 billion shares, up from 12.08 billion in the past 20 sessions.
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