Wednesday's comeback rally gave way to more selling Thursday, with the S&P 500 falling to a new 2022 low, as fears of further monetary tightening swirled on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell to a new closing low of 3,640.47 as Apple shares tumbled following a downgrade from a major investment bank. During the session, the broader market index slid to a new 2022 intraday low of 3,610.40. It also marked its lowest intraday level since 2020. Stocks gave back some of the prior day’s rally. On Wednesday, the Dow and the S&P 500 had snapped six-day losing streaks.
“For a more sustained rally, investors will need to see convincing evidence that inflation is coming under control, allowing central banks to become less hawkish,” Mark Haefele of UBS wrote in a Thursday note. |
A rare downgrade from Bank of America on concerns of weakening consumer demand pressured shares of Apple on Thursday. The rating came after a Bloomberg report Wednesday said Apple told suppliers to stand down on plans to increase production of its iPhone 14 product line.
Still, other firms disagreed with the downgrade. Rosenblatt Securities said Apple is a buy after conducting a survey that implied demand remained robust for iPhone maker. The decline in Apple shares, which closed down nearly 5%, weighed on investors due to its outsized weighting in the S&P 500.
"When you get to that level of concentration, you're also going to have more volatile indices," said Robert Cantwell, portfolio manager at Upholdings. "Apple just wants you to think that it's a macro problem as opposed to a product cycle problem. But the reality is that they're dealing with both right now." |
