Markets
Dow drops 653 points as oil hits a six-month high, but still ends the week higher while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq post second weekly losses
Energy costs hit airlines and a job-cut plan weighed on American Express, leaving the Dow down 1.2% on Friday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted smaller losses ahead of next week's Fed meeting.
HedgeWeekly News Desk ·
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 652.82 points, or 1.23%, to 52,215.16 on Friday, a steeper fall than the broader market. The S&P 500 slipped 0.52% to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq Composite eased 0.21% to 25,955.34. Over the week the picture flipped: the Dow still finished about 1.4% higher, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell for a second straight week.
Oil drove much of the day's selling. December Brent settled at $116.72 a barrel, its highest in six months, and US crude rose 3.76% to $103.21 on fears of a wider Middle East conflict. United, Delta and American Airlines each fell more than 4% on the jump in fuel costs. American Express shed about 3% after saying it would cut roughly 5% of its workforce, or about 3,500 jobs.
Single-stock moves were large in both directions. Robert Half rose about 13% after its quarterly results beat forecasts, and Crown Castle gained almost 12% on reports that SpaceX is in talks to lease US cell sites. Bloom Energy fell about 11% on cash-flow and spending concerns despite beating estimates, and Comfort Systems USA dropped nearly 11%. Investors are still digesting a tech selloff that followed Meta leaving its capital-spending guidance unchanged and Tesla cutting its full-year capex outlook by 20%. The Cboe Volatility Index rose 2.2% to 19.45.
Why it matters: the week's split, with the Dow up and tech-heavy indexes down, shows money rotating out of AI-linked growth stocks even as an oil shock hits fuel-sensitive sectors such as airlines. That combination is awkward for the Federal Reserve, which meets on October 28. Futures pricing put the odds of a rate hike at that meeting at about 5%, and the 10-year Treasury yield stayed just under 5% in afternoon trading. Allocators should watch whether Brent holds near $117 into the Fed decision, since a sustained energy shock would test the market's expectation of a hold.