Major US equity indices struggled to build on overnight solid rebound and resumed with the recent downturn on the final trading day of the week.
Disappointing third-quarter earnings results from tech giants – Amazon and Alphabet, weighed on investors sentiment and attracted a fresh round of selling on Friday.
Today’s fall comes a day after markets enjoyed a goodish rebound from an ugly selloff on Wednesday, though persistent worries about slowing global growth and rising interest rates kept a lid on any further up-move.
Adding to this, fears of a further escalation of trade battle between the world’s two largest economies and its implication on corporate profits have combined dented investors’ appetite for riskier assets – like equities.
US-China trade tensions resurfaced after the US officials reportedly said that trade talks won’t resume until China comes up with solid proposals over forced technology transfers and other economic issues.
On the economic data front, the Commerce Department reported that the US economy is estimated to have grown by 3.5% in the third quarter of 2018. The reading was better than 3.3% anticipated but still reflected some deceleration from the previous quarter’s reading of 4.2% and did little to provide any bullish impetus.
During the opening hour of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost nearly 200-points to 24,787 and the broader S&P 500 Index slipped around 36-points to 2,670. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell over 130-points, or 1.7%, and slipped below the 7,200 mark.
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