US stock markets struggled to another negative week, the first such fall with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both down 0.9%.
The Dow Jones outperformed by comparison, falling 0.5% as the energy sector benefited from a stronger oil price.
Friday marked the expiry day for options used to either leverage exposure to the market or protect portfolios, which typically sees greater levels of volatility. That said, 1% moves are far from volatile.
On Friday, only healthcare was higher with the market seemingly struggling to find any positive catalysts after another strong year.
On the positive side, there are limited negative catalysts and a wall of cash is building up on the sidelines as the end of the year nears.
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US weekly movers
Over the week, technology and energy outperformed, the latter gaining over 4% with consumer cyclicals benefiting from a recovery in consumer confidence and a higher than expected retail sales result.
The crackdown in Macau pushed the casino sector lower whilst Evergrande’s issues are putting a cap on commodity prices for the time being.
Stay at home business outperformed on Friday, with Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) rare gainers amid the worsening Delta outbreak.
Friday’s biggest movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks closed out the week on Friday.
- Thoughtworks (NASDAQ: TWKS) up 9.4%
- Thermo Fisher (NYSE: TMO) up 6.4%
- Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND) up 4.3%
- Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) down 2.0%
- Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) down 2.2%
- PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) down 2.3%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow the negative lead from US markets to open lower on Monday. For all the latest, check out Rask Media’s ASX 200 morning report.
