In February 1978, the Bee Gees’ song “Stayin’ Alive” was the top Billboard song of the month. It was also the anthem for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was struggling with nine straight days of losses.
Almost fifty years ahead, the Dow is mired in nine-day losing streak again. To take another cue from the Billboards chart, all investors want for Christmas is the Dow to stop bleeding red.
That said, it’s not a major wound for the 30-stock index, despite the scary numbers.
The heaviest drag on the Dow is UnitedHealth, which has contributed to more than half of the index’s decline over the past eight sessions, noted CNBC’s Yun Li. The health insurance company was rocked by a fatal shooting of its CEO Brian Thompson as well as a broader sell-off in the industry.
Outside the Dow, the stock market is still cheery. Despite the S&P and the Nasdaq also slipping in their last trading session, both indexes are hovering near their record closes. This suggests that it’s mostly the Dow constituents — “old-economy” stocks like industrials, financials and consumer discretionary — that are flailing.
“Wall Street is waking up to the fact that a Trump presidency might not be as great for stocks as some people hoped,” said David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation. “Financials and industrials jumped on his win but now may have to face higher rates and trade uncertainties, and healthcare faces its greatest political risks in recent memory.”
Moreover, the losses for the Dow might be consecutive, but the incline isn’t that steep. The index is just 3.6% off its record high, and its 50-day moving average is still trending upward.
Though it’s not as if the stock market is giving investors money for nothing, we still aren’t quite in dire straits.
— CNBC’s Yun Li, Michelle Fox, Fred Imbert, Alex Harring, Adrian van Hauwermeiren, Brian Evans and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.
