Wall Street indexes fall sharply; investors brace for jobs data, Nvidia results
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A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, on Nov 17.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW YORK - US stocks ended down sharply on Nov 17, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing below a key technical indicator for the first time since April, as investors braced for quarterly results from retailers and chip giant Nvidia and also awaited a long-delayed US jobs report this week.
Losses accelerated in afternoon trading as all three main indexes traded below their 50-day moving averages. This closely followed moving average is seen as a proxy for the intermediate-term trend.
The Dow closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since Oct 10.
Results this week from major retailers Walmart, Home Depot and Target will round out the quarterly earnings season. Shares of Home Depot, due to report on Nov 18 before the bell, ended 1.2 per cent lower.
Investors eagerly awaited the September jobs report, which is due to be released on Nov 20 after the long US government shutdown
Investors are waiting for two big things: “a look at the consumer ... and Nvidia’s earnings,” said Mr Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York, noting that “you have a consumer that is potentially getting weaker, not stronger.”
Also, he said, the market is consolidating after strong gains this year. The S&P 500 remains up 13.4 per cent for the year to date.
Nvidia, the world’s largest company by market value, which is at the heart of Wall Street’s artificial intelligence trade, is due to report after the bell on Nov 19. Its shares fell 1.9 per cent on Nov 17 and were the biggest drag on the Nasdaq and S&P 500.
Stocks have been pressured in November by concerns that AI exuberance has driven up valuations to expensive levels.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 557.24 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 46,590.24, the S&P 500 lost 61.7 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 6,672.41 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 192.51 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 22,708.08.
It was the first time the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed below their 50-day moving averages since April 30. Among the day’s gainers, Google parent Alphabet rose 3.1 per cent after Berkshire Hathaway revealed a stake of US$4.3 billion (S$5.6 billion) in the company.
Berkshire also further reduced its stake in Apple, whose shares ended 1.8 per cent lower on Nov 17. Among other declining shares, Dell Technologies dropped 8.4 per cent and Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 7 per cent, both after Morgan Stanley ratings downgrades.
Investors also digested views on the outlook for stocks in 2026. Brokerage Morgan Stanley expects US stocks to outperform peers in 2026 and prefers global equities over credit and government bonds.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 4.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 90 new highs and 248 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 1,168 stocks rose and 3,577 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.06-to-1 ratio.
Volume on US exchanges was 19.06 billion shares, compared with the roughly 20 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. REUTERS
