*From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.* * **What to Make of the Market Sell-Off** Investors were hoping that after the election, the turbulence in stock indices would level out for the remainder of the year ー maybe even get a sustained lift from consumer spending and strong earnings. Those hopes have been dashed for the immediate future. By Tuesday of last week, the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 had given up all their gains for the year. The sell-off can’t be traced to one factor. A combination of concerns over trade, slowing global growth, worry over the Fed’s next move, plummeting oil prices, and Brexit uncertainty all add up to a creeping sense ー at least among some investors ー that a broader global slowdown could be in store for 2019, despite the U.S. economy still firing on all cylinders. * **Tech Stocks Lead the Decline** Tech stocks, the onetime darlings of the market that helped propel it higher, are now leading the declines. Facebook ($FB), Amazon ($AMZN), Apple ($AAPL), Netflix ($NFLX), and Google ($GOOGL) ー the so-called FAANG trade ー lost a combined $1 trillion in market cap from their 52-week highs. Apple, in particular, has taken the lion’s share of the beating. The world’s most valuable public company is down more than 20 percent from its all-time high amid softening demand for the iPhone. Foxconn, Apple’s main iPhone supplier, this week warned of a “very difficult and competitive year ahead” and said it would cut expenses by $3 billion in 2019. Read more [here](https://cheddar.com/videos/faang-stocks-continue-downward-spiral). * **Mark Zuckerberg at War** The world’s largest social network is reeling from its own set of problems, separate from those battering its tech brethren. That includes ongoing fallout from a New York Times investigation, which exposed that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg deflected concerns about Russian election interference on the platform and hired a PR firm that one employee referred to as an “in-house fake news shop.” Zuckerberg, notoriously averse to interviews, went on CNN in an attempt to minimize the criticism of his stewardship of Facebook. He defended Sandberg, despite reports that he privately pinned much of the blame on her, and brushed off calls that he resign from his post as chairman. Zuckerberg is all but immune to a board or shareholder revolt, given that he owns the majority of voting rights. Read more [here](https://cheddar.com/videos/zuckerberg-pushes-back-defends-sandberg-in-cnn-sit-down). * **Black Friday Boosts Sagging Retail Numbers** Black Friday kicked off with positive reports showing online spending up substantially from a year ago. But the retail sector still approached the all-important holiday season with trepidation, despite the fact that consumer confidence is high, wages are growing, unemployment is low, and gas prices are falling ー a recipe for a bull market in consumer stocks. Much of that has to do with legacy retailers, at long last, investing heavily in updating their back-end operations to accommodate more e-commerce. That’s expensive in the short term, and is one of the reasons why Target ($TGT), Lowe’s, ($LOW), and Kohl’s ($KSS) all reported earnings that brought the sector down. At the same time, CEOs of major brick-and-mortar retailers consistently say they’re predicting a strong, maybe even record, holiday season. Indeed, total sales for the season are poised to pass $1 trillion for the first time ever. Read more [here](https://cheddar.com/videos/online-thanksgiving-sales-surge-to-start-black-friday-weekend). * **Housing Cools Off** The housing market is cooling, and the builders are starting to feel the chill. A major gauge of confidence among home-builders took its steepest dive since 2014, to a reading of 60. Anything above 50 is considered a net positive view of market conditions, but a sharp drop like that indicates that headwinds ー rising mortgage rates and prices leading to slower demand ー are catching up to construction. And investors haven’t forgotten that it was the home-building sector that was among the first to show signs of worry in the years leading up to the recession a decade ago. Read more [here](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/declining-home-builder-confidence-weighs-on-housing-market-outlook). *- Carlo Versano*
