US markets close volatile session in red on Friday

18 Dec 2021 Evaluate

The US markets closed a volatile session in red on Friday with notable losses on account of a ‘quadruple witching’ day, with stock options, index options, stock futures and index futures all expiring. A lack of major US economic data may also have contributed to the choppy trading, as traders look ahead to next week's reports on consumer confidence, personal income and spending, durable goods orders and new and existing home sales.Traders also seem to be expressing conflicting reactions to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The markets initially seemed relieved the Fed's move to accelerate the reduction in its asset purchases to $30 billion per month was not as aggressive as some had feared. The Fed's forecast for three interest rates hikes next year also eliminated some uncertainty, although traders now seem to be grappling with the reality of sooner-than-expected rate hikes. Concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus also weighed on the markets along with worries about ongoing supply chain issues.

On the sectoral front, banking stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 2.8 percent. Early in the session, the index hit its lowest intraday level in almost three months. Considerable weakness was also visible among oil stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Oil Index. The sell-off by oil stocks came amid a step drop by the price of crude oil, with crude for January delivery tumbling $1.52 to $70.86 a barrel. Pharmaceutical, housing and chemical stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, while notable strength was visible among biotechnology, airline and networking stocks.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 532.20 points or 1.48 percent to 35,365.44, Nasdaq dropped 10.75 points or 0.07 percent to 15,169.68 and S&P 500 was down by 48.03 points or 1.03 percent to 4,620.64.

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