Only one day after crystal-clear dovish signals by the Federal Reserve helped push stocks higher, fear of a recession sent bond prices soaring and stock prices tumbling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.77% sank 460 points, or 1.8%, to close at 25,502.32 Friday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.90% slumped 1.9% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -2.50% fared even worse, sliding 2.5%.
While it can never say it expects a recession, the Federal Open Market Committee’s two policy announcements on Wednesday — to leave the federal-funds rate unchanged while planning to stop the shrinkage of the Federal Reserve’s bond portfolio at the end of September — seemed to spook investors. But Thursday, those same announcements and the lower interest rates they implied had helped lift stock prices.
The bond market sent a prerecession signal on Friday, as the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.00% skidded 10 basis points to 2.44%. That put it lower than the 2.46% yield on 3-month Treasury bills TMUBMUSD03M, +0.00% — the first time since 2007.
Dow losers: 26 out of 30
Here’s how all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average performed on Friday, sorted from worst to best:
Company Ticker Price change - March 22 Price change - March 21 Price change - 2019 Price change - 2018 Nike Inc. Class B NKE, -6.61% -6.6% 1.5% 10.9% 18.5% DowDuPont Inc. DWDP, -3.58% -3.5% 1.7% 0.9% -24.9% Caterpillar Inc. CAT, -3.20% -3.2% 0.8% 2.1% -19.4% JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, -3.02% -3.0% -1.6% 2.2% -8.7% Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, -2.89% -2.9% 0.1% 13.1% -34.4% Boeing Co. BA, -2.83% -2.8% -0.9% 12.3% 9.4% Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -2.64% -2.6% 2.3% 15.2% 18.7% Intel Corp. INTC, -2.53% -2.5% 1.5% 13.5% 1.7% 3M Co. MMM, -2.36% -2.4% 0.6% 7.4% -19.0% Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO, -2.22% -2.2% 1.3% 21.7% 13.1% Chevron Corp. CVX, -2.20% -2.2% 0.9% 13.1% -13.1% American Express Co. AXP, -2.11% -2.1% 0.9% 14.8% -4.0% Apple Inc. AAPL, -2.07% -2.1% 3.7% 21.1% -6.8% UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH, -1.96% -1.9% 0.6% -0.8% 13.0% Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. WBA, -1.87% -1.9% 1.3% -8.7% -5.9% Visa Inc. Class A V, -1.75% -1.8% 1.3% 16.0% 15.7% Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, -1.60% -1.6% 0.6% 18.0% -18.5% International Business Machines Corp. IBM, -1.41% -1.4% 1.3% 22.7% -25.9% United Technologies Corp. UTX, -1.36% -1.3% 1.3% 17.6% -16.5% Pfizer Inc. PFE, -1.18% -1.2% 0.4% -4.1% 20.5% Johnson & Johnson JNJ, -0.86% -0.9% 0.6% 6.1% -7.6% Procter & Gamble Co. PG, -0.81% -0.8% 0.8% 10.6% 0.0% Walmart Inc. WMT, -0.79% -0.8% 0.4% 5.5% -5.7% Merck & Co. Inc. MRK, -0.80% -0.8% 1.1% 7.7% 35.8% Home Depot Inc. HD, -0.64% -0.6% 2.1% 9.9% -9.3% Walt Disney Co. DIS, -0.40% -0.4% -1.2% -1.3% 2.0% McDonald's Corp. MCD, +0.24% 0.2% 0.8% 5.2% 3.2% Travelers Companies Inc. TRV, +0.39% 0.4% 2.3% 12.7% -11.7% Coca-Cola Co. KO, +0.92% 0.9% 0.0% -3.0% 3.2% Verizon Communications Inc. VZ, +2.52% 2.5% 1.1% 6.3% 6.2% Source: FactSet Worst performing S&P 500 stocks
Among S&P 500 companies, 85% saw their shares decline on Friday. Here are the day’s 10 worst performers:
Company Ticker Price change - March 22 Price change - March 21 Price change - 2019 Price change - 2018 SVB Financial Group SIVB, -7.06% -7.1% -3.5% 11.7% -18.8% Brighthouse Financial Inc. BHF, -6.84% -6.8% 0.3% 16.6% -48.0% United Rentals Inc. URI, -6.80% -6.8% 2.5% 8.2% -40.4% Nike Inc. Class B NKE, -6.61% -6.6% 1.5% 10.9% 18.5% Western Digital Corp. WDC, -6.55% -6.5% 9.8% 30.9% -53.5% Cintas Corp. CTAS, -6.52% -6.5% 1.4% 15.8% 7.8% Cimarex Energy Co. XEC, -6.25% -6.3% 0.5% 10.1% -49.5% Regions Financial Corp. RF, -6.24% -6.2% -3.5% 1.1% -22.6% KeyCorp KEY, -6.09% -6.1% -3.6% 1.3% -26.7% Affiliated Managers Group Inc. AMG, -5.75% -5.8% -1.7% 1.8% -52.5% Source: FactSet Big Nasdaq losers
Here are the day’s 10 worst performers among the Nasdaq-100 NDX, -2.23% :
Company Ticker Price change - March 22 Price change - March 21 Price change - 2019 Price change - 2018 Western Digital Corp. WDC, -6.55% -6.5% 9.8% 30.9% -53.5% Cintas Corp. CTAS, -6.52% -6.5% 1.4% 15.8% 7.8% Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD, -5.45% -5.4% 8.5% 42.8% 79.6% Micron Technology Inc. MU, -5.39% -5.4% 9.6% 31.2% -22.8% Biogen Inc. BIIB, -4.48% -4.5% -29.2% -28.0% -5.5% Netflix Inc. NFLX, -4.46% -4.5% 0.7% 34.9% 39.4% Skyworks Solutions Inc. SWKS, -4.04% -4.0% 5.3% 23.2% -29.4% Align Technology Inc. ALGN, -3.96% -4.0% 5.7% 28.7% -5.7% NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI, -3.85% -3.8% 3.6% 23.7% -37.4% NetApp Inc. NTAP, -3.84% -3.8% 2.9% 12.0% 7.9% Source: FactSet
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