Stocks fell on Friday as Wall Street ended a volatile week as global coronavirus cases rose and additional U.S. fiscal stimulus talks abruptly ended. Traders also staged a selloff ahead of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election, with tech shares leading broader market losses. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 fell 6.5% and 5.6%, respectively, while the Nasdaq dropped over 5%; all benchmarks posted their biggest weekly losses since March. For the month, all three major indices ended with their first back-to-back losses since the beginning of the pandemic.
The U.S reported a record 88,521 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as the virus's outbreak reaches ever corner of the country. Scientists have begun issuing grim outlooks for the nation, including warnings of exponential daily case growth over the holiday season, which stretches from November to January.
Meanwhile, U.S. personal incomes rose by a greater-than-expected 0.9% in September, increasing from August's 2.5% drop, according to fresh data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal spending also increased by more than expected at 1.4% in September and the personal savings rate declines for a fifth straight month, signally consumer's becoming more comfortable with current economic conditions. However, at a savings rate of 14.3%, sentiment has a long way to recover from pre-pandemic levels of 8.3%.
Consumer sentiment for October also increased to 81.8 from September's reading of 81.2, according to the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers final monthly reading. Surveys of Consumers Chief Economist Richard Curtin noted in a statement: "Fear and loathing produced this false sense of stability [in October]. Fears were generated by rising COVID infection and death rates, and loathing was generated by the hyper-partisanship that has driven the election to ideological extremes. Moreover, the impact of the COVID virus and the extreme of hyper-partisanship will continue long past next week's election, with the potential to permanently alter the economic and political landscape."
Here's how the market settled for the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
For Major Stock News, cruise and airline stocks were both boosted by the new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that would allow cruise ships to launch from U.S. ports in a phased approach: American
For Sector Performance, only two of the 11 S&P sectors ended Friday's session in positive territory. Those sectors were Energy
For Commodities and Currency, the U.S. Dollar
The week ahead will be met with the potential outcome of the U.S. presidential election, which is anticipated to take longer than usual to tally due to unprecedented levels of mail-in ballots. Market volatility surrounding additional U.S. stimulus may cool down for a bit now as talks may have stalled until closer to 2021.
