NEW YORK, New York – The full weight of a pending bear market came to bear on Friday as stocks tumbled.
“The markets are trying to wrap around a lot of different cross-currents,” BMO Wealth Management’s Yung-Yu Ma told CNBC Friday.
“With the Fed raising rates and all the uncertainties that the global economy is facing, it’s hard to get excited about paying the multiples that currently prevail in a lot of places in the market.”
The tech sector was hardest hit with the Nasdaq Composite shedding 536.89 points or 4.17 percent to 12,334.84.
The Dow Jones industrials plunged 939.18 points or 2.77 percent to 32,977.21.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 fell 155.57 points or 3.63 percent to 4,131.93.
The U.S. dollar continued its rally overall, but some profit-taking on the majors saw some of its more recent gains being marginally eroded.
The euro rose somewhat to finish Friday and the week at 1.0546. The British pound came back modestly from Thursday’s multi-year low to trade at 1.2571. The Japanese yen was also slightly stronger at 129.75. The Swiss franc however eased further to 0.9732 by the New York close Friday.
The Canadian dollar sank to 1.2855. The once-flying Australian dollar had its wings clipped further, finishing the week at 0.7063. The New Zealand dollar was unwanted at 0.6454. The strongest currency on Friday surprisingly was the Russian rouble, which traded at a two-year high, shrugging off any impact of recent sanctions.
On overseas equity markets, the biggest mover was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng which surged 813 points or 4.01 percent to 21,089.39.
In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris, France jumped 0.39 percent. The German Dax added 0.84 percent.
In London, the FTSE 100 grew 0.47 percent.
China’s Shanghai Composite rose 2.41 percent. The Australian All Ordinaries increased 1.08 percent. In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 climbed 0.07 percent. South Korea’s Kospi Composite added 1.03 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 advanced 1.75 percent.
