The US markets ended sharply lower on Friday, in the wake of bleak economic data and tariff concerns. Sentiments also got hit after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than previously estimated in the month of February. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for February was downwardly revised to 64.7 from a preliminary reading of 67.8. With the unexpected downward revision, the consumer sentiment index is well below the January reading of 71.7, tumbling to its lowest level since hitting 61.3 in November 2023. The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.
Airline stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, resulting in a 4.9 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index plunged to its lowest closing level in well over a month. Substantial weakness was also visible among gold stocks, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbling by 4.2 percent. The sell-off by gold stocks came as the price of the precious metal pulled back off its record highs. Semiconductor stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 3.3 percent. Networking, brokerage and software stocks also showed significant moves to the downside, while pharmaceutical stocks were among the few groups to buck the downtrend.
Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to 43,428.02, Nasdaq declined 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to 19,524.01 and S&P 500 was down by 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13.
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