S&P 500 falls, heads for third-straight down week

Stocks fell Friday as traders struggled to recover some of the ground they lost in the previous session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 140 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 0.5% and 0.8% respectively.

On Friday morning, major indexes tumbled after the price index of core consumer spending, the Fed’s favorite measure of inflation, was slightly higher than economists expected. That.

“Today, investors have to contend with lower-than-expected numbers in endurance orders offset by weaker-than-expected PCE numbers in November,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. . “Trading days before the holidays could be more volatile than usual due to lower trading volumes, and this should carry over into the weeks with reduced holidays between Christmas and New Year.”

Friday’s move followed another bearish session in the market as December selling resumed and hopes for a Santa Claus rally faded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 348.99 points, or 1.05%, on Thursday, but finished well off the low of 803 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 1.45% and 2.18% respectively.

These losses sent the S&P 500 down 0.8% in a week, catching up with its third straight week of declines. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1% this week. The Dow is outperforming this week, up 0.3%.

A recent resurgence of recession fears has dashed some investors’ hopes of a year-end rally, leading to heavy losses in December. Investors fear that excessive tightening by central banks around the world could push the economy into recession.

“From a broader market and economic perspective, nothing will change next year,” Dan Greenhouse, chief strategist at Solus Alternative Asset Management, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Thursday. He said there were still questions about how far the Fed would raise interest rates. “Trends are still trends.”

The S&P 500 fell more than 6% in December, with the Dow and Nasdaq down 4.5% and 8.7% respectively. It would be the biggest monthly decline for a major average since September. The stock is also on pace for its worst annual performance since 2008.