US stocks end week lower amid interest rate concerns, Dow Jones loses 350 points

US stocks ended the week with losses on Friday amid interest rate concerns as the post-election rally slowed after the US Federal Reserve Chairman indicated that he was in no hurry to continue cutting interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 350 points, or 0.7%. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell about 1.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.3%.

The decline began on Thursday afternoon after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said during an event in Dallas that the central bank is “in no hurry” to cut interest rates. This comes after the central bank cut borrowing costs last week.

Markets have trimmed their expectations for another Fed rate cut at the December meeting, now pricing in a roughly 62% chance of a quarter-point cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, down from 82.5% before Powell’s comments on Thursday. That compares with a 37% chance of keeping rates steady next month.

The three major indexes are set to end the week lower, giving up some of the gains they made during last week’s rally on the back of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

The Nasdaq Composite is down 0.9% for the week, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones are down 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively. The Dow closed above 44,000 for the first time ever on Monday.

In the latest economic data, retail sales data for October on Friday showed a 0.4% increase, slightly better than the 0.3% forecast by economists polled by Dow Jones. The result follows the October consumer inflation report that was in line with economists’ expectations.

Technology Stocks

On the market shift, Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said: “Investors are taking a breather and assessing whether the progress is worth it.” “We really don’t see anything on the horizon right now to turn stocks upside down, but investors are always looking around to see what could cause this trend to end.”

In terms of stock movement, the information technology sector in the S&P 500 was the worst performer in the market, falling more than 2%, as did Nvidia, while Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet fell more than 2% each.

Global Pharma Stocks Drop Sharply… What’s Trump’s Connection?

Global pharmaceutical stocks fell on Friday, November, after US President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, as his health secretary on Thursday.

Moderna shares fell 7.34%, while Pfizer shares fell 4.69%.

Shares of BioNTech, which helped develop a Covid vaccine with Pfizer, fell about 3.71% by the end of trading on Friday, while GSK fell about 2%.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk also fell, with both companies down about 4% on concerns that the drug approval process could slow down.

Nvidia slumps, heading for a losing week as a Dow member

Shares of chipmaker Nvidia fell more than 2% on Friday, extending the chip giant’s rocky start to its tenure as a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The stock was officially added to the 30-stock blue-chip average before trading began last Friday. The artificial intelligence boom leader is on track for its fourth losing session in six since the addition.

Nvidia was trading just under $143 per share in midday trading, down about 4% from when it entered the Dow, and is down 3% on the week.

Tesla Gains on ‘Trump Trade’

Only Tesla stock among its Magnificent Seven peers was more fortunate, with shares of the electric-car giant and the so-called “Trump Trade” rising more than 3%.

Tesla shares, a major beneficiary of the election because of CEO Elon Musk’s support for President-elect Donald Trump, fell 3% this week after surging 29% last week, but rebounded Friday.

Super Micro Computer shares fell 2% ahead of a Monday deadline that could see the company delisted from the Nasdaq.

Super Micro missed a year-end filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, putting it on the Nasdaq Non-Compliance List.

This would be the 11th losing day in Super Micro’s last 13 trading sessions.

Alibaba shares fall despite 58% jump in profit

Shares of Chinese retail giant Alibaba fell more than 3% after the e-commerce giant beat earnings expectations for the quarter ended Sept. 30. However, its sales disappointed, reflecting a broader slowdown in China’s retail environment and consumer spending.

Alibaba’s net income rose 58% year-on-year during the quarter, helped by the performance of its equity investments. Its revenue of 236.5 billion yuan was 5% higher year-on-year but below analysts’ expectations of 238.9 billion yuan, according to LSEG data.

Retail sales rebound in October, import and manufacturing prices rise

Consumer spending continued to pick up in October, although some details pointed to weakness, the statistics bureau reported on Friday.

Overall retail sales rose 0.4%, down from a revised 0.8% increase in September but slightly better than the Dow Jones estimate of a 0.3% increase.

However, sales excluding autos rose just 0.1%, compared with expectations of 0.3%, while the “control” group, which excludes a number of items and is directly included in GDP calculations, fell 0.1%.

In other economic news Friday, import prices rose a stronger-than-expected 0.3% in October. The Empire State manufacturing index also rose to 31.2, its highest level since December 2021 and much better than the consensus estimate for a flat reading.

Moderna shares fall

Shares of biotech company Moderna fell about 5%, extending their slide since Thursday after news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, would be President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary.