The Dow Jones fell 1,000 points on Friday, or 2.8%, the worst such fall since October 2020 before the vaccines were approved.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down similar amounts, 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively, as earnings season triggered a jump in volatility.
The falls came despite an assurance that the Fed would not hike by 75 basis points, something the market is ‘pricing’ in.
HCA Healthcare shares dumped
All sectors finished lower, led by healthcare which fell 3.6% after popular HCA Healthcare (NYSE: HCA) delivered a weaker profit forecast, sending shares down more than 20%.
Revenue increased only slightly and profit fell but clearly, investors were concerned about staffing and labour issues.
It was another timely reminder that no company is immune from these sharp drops and the focus much remains on active management and seeking out quality in this difficult environment.
Gap & American Express miss expectations
A series of other companies struggled, with clothing retailer Gap (NYSE: GPS) down 18% on a 7% decline in sales.
American Express (NYSE: AXP) was another detracting, falling 3% after reporting a lower than expected 15% increase in revenue as credit card spending remains slow to recover.
Across the week, the Dow Jones ‘outperformed’ falling 1.9%, the S&P 500 fell 2.8% and the Nasdaq tumbled 3.8%.
US stock market movers
These popular US shares were among the biggest movers on Friday.
- SVB Financial (NASDAQ: SIVB) up 7.5%
- Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) up 3.9%
- Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) up 3.5%
- Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) down 4.2%
- Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) down 6.4%
- Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) down 14.3%
