It was another brutal week for Wall Street, but with a glimmer of hope that sparked fresh talk about whether the stock market had finally hit a “bottom” that will allow a new rally phase to start.
Despite the heavy losses, some analysts expressed optimism that the market was able to hold above key lows for the indexes last month, and said this could be a sign that selling pressures have been exhausted.
Analysts pointed to market action on Thursday, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed losses of some 300 points to stage a powerful rally of more than 550 points.
The market action “may go down as the final low of the market mess that began a year ago,” said Bob Dickey, a technical analyst at RBC Wealth Management.
“It was the fourth test of the low zone in five weeks, and by most technical measures was also the most meaningful ... There was no apparent reason for the market to rally, which actually helps in the analysis, because it means that the markets have most likely seen an exhaustion of the selling pressure,” he said.
Still, in the week to Friday, Dow index slid 4.99 percent to 8,497.31. The tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 7.92 percent to 1,516.85 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped 6.17 percent to end at 873.29.
Some said it was too soon to say the bottom had been reached.
“So many analysts are saying that [Thursday] represented a successful test of the intraday lows and probably marked capitulation,” Fred Dickson at DA Davidson & Co said.
“We will withhold judgment on that question until we make sure that having recorded some gains, traders decide to take profit, starting the familiar cycle over again,” he said.
Linda Deussel at Federated Investors said the market is likely to remain under pressure for some time but does not see further heavy declines.
“This may not be the time to jump into stocks with both feet,” she said. “But we strongly believe that a bottoming process is under way. We remind investors that the lion’s share of the first-year gains in a new bull come in the first few months.”
The bond market remained firm. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond fell to 3.750 percent from 3.780 percent a week earlier, and than on the 30-year Treasury bond eased to 4.230 percent from 4.261 percent. The lower yields reflect higher bond prices.
In the coming week, the market is likely to consider any actions by the weekend summit of the G20, an emergency meeting of leaders on the global financial crisis.
Also on tap are reports on US industrial production, housing starts and inflation.
Some analysts say the grimmer-than-expected data point to conditions that are even worse than markets have anticipated.
“It turns out I haven’t been pessimistic enough,” said Scott Anderson, economist at Wells Fargo.
“The negative feedback from the bank credit losses, tighter credit conditions, and worsening economy have been more difficult to overcome than I expected,” Anderson said.
“The current quarter is going to be terrible, and there isn’t much Washington is going to be able to do about it. GDP growth in the fourth quarter is now on track to plunge 4.2 percent on an annualized basis with no major sector left to hold up this ‘wet noodle’ of an economy,” he said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS