Matteo Colombo
Despite attempts at a rally earlier in the day, the major U.S. equity averages finished the last session of Q3 with another day of losses on Friday, adding to recent weakness. With investors still concerned about aggressive Federal Reserve policy, the Dow and S&P 500 touched new lows for 2022.
Trading took place amid PCE price data that rose more than forecasters expected. Meanwhile, comments from a top Fed official continued to point to a hawkish stance from the central bank.
The Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) ended -1.5%, the S&P 500 (SP500) finished -1.5% and the Dow (DJI) closed -1.7%.
The Dow Jones dropped 500.10 points to finish at 28,725.51. This was its lowest close since November of 2020. Similarly, the S&P 500 retreated 54.85 points to conclude trading at 3,585.62 — also its lowest finish since November 2020.
The Nasdaq ended the session at 10,575.62, a decline of 161.89. While the Dow and S&P 500 both set intraday 52-week lows during the session, the Nasdaq remained just off its previous 2022 low of 10,565.84, set back in June. Still, this represented the lowest closing price for the Nasdaq since July 2020.
Ten of the 11 S&P sectors finished in the red. This was led by declines in Info Tech and Utilities. Real Estate posted the only positive performance among the major sectors, rising by about 1%.
With Q3 at an end, the S&P 500 is now down more than 25% for 2022 as a whole. The Nasdaq has fallen more than 33%, while the Dow has retreated more than 21%.
“Stocks struggled today and appear to be breaking down after consolidating around the June lows on a technical basis, as credit spreads continue to widen due to economic and monetary policy uncertainty,” Michael Kramer of Mott Capital told Seeking Alpha.
Looking ahead, Kramer predicted that corporate earnings figures will increasingly come into focus as the pace of quarterly reports heats up.
“If FedEx, Nike, and Micron are a preview of what is coming, this earnings season may be far more challenging than investors expect,” he warned. “Thus far, S&P 500 earnings estimates for the rest of 2022 and 2023 have held up and have seen a very minimal decline. However, we could analysts begin to adjust estimates lower over the first two weeks of October, which could drive the S&P 500 to 3,500.”
In the latest hawkish commentary from a Fed official, …….
