U.S. stocks plummeted Friday with the Nasdaq Composite suffering its worst month since 2008, as Amazon became the latest victim in April’s technology-led sell-off.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped roughly 4.2% to 12,334.64, hauled by Amazon’s post-earnings plummet. The S&P 500 retreated by 3.6% to 4,131.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 939.18 points, or close to 2.8%, to 32,977.21. The Nasdaq finished at a new low for 2022.
Stocks closed out a brutal month as investors were frightened by the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening, hiking rates, inflation, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and Covid cases surge in China
“The markets are trying to wrap around a lot of different cross-currents,” BMO Wealth Management’s Yung-Yu Ma said. “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 Nasdaq plummeted about 13.3% in April, its worst monthly performance since October 2008 amid the financial crisis. The S&P 500 shed 8.8%, its worst month since March 2020. The Dow was down 4.9% on the month.
