Will Stock Market Volatility Lead to a Bear Market?
*By Kavitha Shastry*
Another roller coaster day on Wall Street saw markets roar out the gate Friday, with the Dow Industrials opening up 400 points, giving back all those gains and then some by midday, and ultimately closing up a little more than a percent.
The rally wasn't enough to fully erase the pain investors felt earlier in the week, though, and major indexes posted their biggest weekly losses since March.
"Right now there's a bit of a tug of war ー are we heading into a bear market or is this just a normal correction?" asked Jason Browne, chief investment strategist at Fund-X. "It's still way early to know."
Tech stocks were able to recoup some of their losses Friday, with the so-called FAANG names adding back almost $100 billion to their collective market cap ー about half of what they lost over the previous two days.
The sell off comes just before third quarter earnings season kicks off in earnest, with Netflix ($NFLX) set to report after the bell next Tuesday.
"Anything negative is going to be a real problem right now," Browne said. "In general you're going to have to hear a little bit about, what is the impact, if anything, that rising rates are having on consumers? What is the impact trade wars are having on supply chains? What do they think about input costs?"
U.S. interest rates have risen to their highest levels in more than seven years, sending shares of homebuilders Toll Brothers ($TOL) and Lennar ($LEN) down on the fear of rising mortgage costs. As for tariffs, retailers from Walmart ($WMT) to the Gap ($GPS) to Jessica Alba's The Honest Company have all said rising costs may lead to higher prices.
But if companies indicate they'll be able to absorb these costs, Browne said, "that'll help the market hopefully find some footing."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/market-week-in-review-2).
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.