WALL Street ended lower after a volatile session on Thursday, with Cisco Systems slumping after giving a dismal outlook, while investors fretted about inflation and rising interest rates.
Shares of Cisco slumped 13.7% after the networking gear maker lowered its 2022 revenue growth outlook, taking a hit from its Russia exit and component shortages related to COVID-19 lockdowns in China.
Apple and chipmaker Broadcom declined 2.5% and 4.3%, respectively, and weighed on the S&P 500.
“The reality is that inflation is running hot and interest rates are rising,” said US Bank Wealth Management chief equity strategist Terry Sandven.”Until you get that inflation rate to start slowing, we’re going to have increased volatility, and in our view that continues through throughout most of the summer months.”
Twitter climbed 1.2% after Bloomberg reported that company executives told staff that Elon Musk’s US$44-bil deal was proceeding as expected and they would not renegotiate the price.
The S&P consumer staples index fell 2% to its lowest level since December as retail firms face the brunt of rising prices hurting the purchasing power of US consumers.
Kohl’s Corp became the latest retailer to flag a hit from four-decades high inflation as the department store chain cut its full-year profit forecast.
Its shares, however, rebounded over 4% after slumping 11% in the previous session due to dismal results from Target Corp.
The S&P 500 is down about 18% from its record close on Jan 3 as investors adjust to strong inflation, geopolitical uncertainty stemming from the war in Ukraine and tightening financial conditions with the US Federal Reserve raising rates.
A close of 20% or more below its January record high would confirm the S&P 500 has been in a bear market since hitting that peak, according to a widely used definition.
Goldman Sachs strategists predicted a 35% chance of the US economy entering a recession in the next two years, while the Wells Fargo Investment Institute expects a mild US recession at the end of 2022 and early 2023.
The S&P 500 declined 0.58% to end the session at 3,900.79 points.
The Nasdaq declined 0.26% to 11,388.50 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.75% to 31,253.13 points.
Thursday’s mixed performance followed a drop of over 4% in the S&P 500 on Wednesday, the benchmark’s worst one-day loss since June 2020.
The CBOE volatility index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell to 29.5 points on Thursday, after hitting its highest level since May 12 earlier in the session.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc jumped almost 10% after it forecast upbeat annual earnings, encouraged by strong demand for its luxury parkas and jackets.
Volume on US exchanges was 12.7 billion shares, compared with a 13.4 billion average over the last 20 trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.15-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week highs and 43 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 12 new highs and 326 new lows. — May 20, 2022
