Nasdaq Briefly Enters Correction as U.S. Stocks Tumble Again
*By Kavitha Shastry*
The October sell-off deepened Thursday with the Nasdaq briefly entering correction territory, down more than 10 percent from its all-time highs of late August.
The Dow, which had actually been up early in the day, at its lows had dropped nearly 700 points ー bringing its two-day loss to more than 1,500 points ー and the S&P 500 was down as much as 2.6 percent.
All major indexes recouped some losses by the end of the day, but closed well in the red. The market's so-called "fear index" rose to its highest level since February.
The volatility even had knock-on effects on companies that aren't public yet. China's Tencent Music, which was expected to be one of the biggest offerings in the U.S. this year, reportedly delayed plans for its IPO. According to the Wall Street Journal, the music streaming service now won't make its market debut until November at the earliest.
Among the issues weighing on markets Thursday were continued concerns over the effect of a trade war with China and fears the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to quickly. The latter was of particular interest to President Trump, who followed up comments from Wednesday that the central bank was acting "loco" by saying he was disappointed with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who he himself appointed to the post last November.
The recent losses only add to the pain investors have been feeling for most of October ー just nine trading days into the month, the S&P 500 is down almost 6.4 percent, its biggest monthly loss since September 2011. The Nasdaq, meanwhile, has dropped nearly 9 percent ー you have to go all the way back to the financial crisis in 2008 to match those losses.
Tech stocks have been particularly hurt this month. The once high-flying FAANG names ー Facebook ($FB), Amazon ($AMZN), Apple ($AAPL), Netflix ($NFLX), and Google parent Alphabet ($GOOGL) ー have lost a combined $330 billion in market cap in October. Amazon itself has shed $138 billion, more than the entire market cap of McDonald's ($MCD).
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/markets-in-review).
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
