FilippoBacci
U.S. stocks on Friday stumbled through an uncertain trading session to end lower, with Wall Street’s major averages wavering after holding onto gains through most of the day.
Markets end a tough week with hefty losses, characterized by a bruising sell-off sparked by the Federal Reserve’s signal of higher rates for longer. A few central bank speakers largely echoed that theme earlier in the day.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) closed 0.09% lower at 13,211.81 points, having given up gains of nearly 1%. The benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) retreated 0.23% to settle at 4,320.00 points, while the blue-chip Dow (DJI) slipped 0.31% to finish at 33,964.04 points.
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) was in the spotlight. Its shares climbed about 2% after the UK issued a preliminary approval for Microsoft’s (MSFT) proposed $69B takeover of the videogame publisher.
Ford (F) garnered some headlines, with the stock ending among the top percentage gainers on the S&P 500 (SP500) after The United Auto Workers said they had made significant progress in their talks with the carmaker. The union also called for strikes at 38 General Motor (GM) and Stellantis (STLA) locations.
Nine of the 11 S&P sectors ended in negative territory, with Consumer Discretionary and Financials the top two losers. Technology and Energy were the two gainers.
On a weekly basis, the benchmark S&P (SP500) and the Nasdaq (COMP.IND) notched their worst performance since early March, ending 2.93% and 3.62%…
