S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and DJIA All Fall Slightly as Stocks' Recent Rebound Sees a Pause
Stocks traded slightly lower late Friday morning as markets took a break from a multiday rebound that they saw earlier this week following their big Aug. 2-5 sell-off.
The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ led the way lower, shedding 34.13 points (0.2%) to trade at 17,560.37 shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET. The $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ followed with a loss of 6.11 ticks (0.1%) to 5,537.11, while the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ gave up 6.95 points (0.02%) to reach 40,556.11.
The key indexes had been mostly rising in recent days on a combination of tame U.S. inflation data and decent signs of economic growth, including better-than-expected results of July retail sales and the latest weekly initial jobless claims.
That eased fears of either a U.S. recession or continued high U.S. inflation. All in, the benign recent numbers seem to leave the door open for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next month for the first time since 2020.
Lower interest rates historically help stocks by making bond and money-market yields less attractive to investors. However, Wall Street saw a significant sell-off Aug. 2-5 after a weaker-than-expected July jobs report raised fears that higher interest rates had not only curbed high U.S. inflation, but overshot their target and pushed the economy towards recession.
Still, stocks recouped their Aug. 2-5 losses in recent days as newer data seemingly reassured investors that the economy remains on a decent footing.
Individual stocks seeing significant gains as of shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET included:
-- $B. Riley Financial (RILY.US)$, which rebounded 25.2% following a 70% sell-off earlier this week on word that the firm was suspending its dividend and had received subpoenas from regulators.
-- $Rocket Lab (RKLB.US)$, which gained 17.5% on news that the space-systems firm has shipped two Mars spacecraft to NASA. RKLB already had a 12.5% run-up Thursday, apparently as part of a rally in the space-related sector sparked by a 50%+ rise for $AST SpaceMobile (ASTS.US)$ on word of plans for its first satellite launch.
-- $Planet Labs PBC (PL.US)$, which rallied 15.4% on plans to launch its first hyperspectral satellite into space Friday. PL had already gained 4% Thursday, apparently as part of that session’s up move for many space-related stocks.
Conversely, stocks with large losses as of shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET included:
-- $Sidus Space (SIDU.US)$, down 21.8% following a 37.5% rally Thursday in apparent sympathy with ASTS's rise.
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Former top editor at Seeking Alpha, Fidelity.com, TheStreet.com and UPI.
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