- US stocks fell for the second straight session on the Friday before the long weekend, on track for a negative weekly close.
- The S&P 500 was last down just under 1.0% on Friday and is trading below the 4350 level.
- The Ukraine crisis remains the main driving force in the market at the moment as violence escalates in eastern Ukraine.
US stock markets fell for a second straight session on the Friday before the long weekend and now appear to be on track to post a second straight negative weekly close for the first time since November 2021. U.S. stock investors said on Friday they didn’t want to be caught “exposed” before the long weekend (US markets are closed on Monday for President’s Day) and were making a profit in case the Ukraine crisis escalates further. The S&P 500 It was last down just under 1.0% on Friday and trading below the 4,350 level, putting it on track to post a weekly loss of 1.8%, taking its losses from previous monthly highs near 4,600 to over 5.0%. .
S&P 500 bears expect that as the index hit new weekly lows on Friday, the next stop sometime next week will be a test of yearly lows in the 4,220s, more than 2.5% below current levels. . As hostilities between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military in eastern Ukraine escalate and Russia continues to build up troops near the Ukrainian border, nervousness about the outbreak of a wider Russo-Ukrainian war will keep investors spooked. capital. A key event on the radar next week is a face-to-face meeting between US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which could ease tensions somewhat. The US reportedly agreed to the meeting on the condition that Russia not invade Ukraine.
With geopolitics remaining at the forefront of investors’ attention due to fears that an outbreak of war could lead to massive Western sanctions against Russia with inflationary implications for the global economy, the Fed’s speech and US data The US have been ignored this week. In truth, there hasn’t been any top-tier data that has much of an impact on Fed tightening expectations, nor have Fed members said anything new or particularly interesting. This is likely to remain the case next week, with the only highlights coming from February PMI, January core PCE inflation and the second estimate of Q4 GDP growth.
Turning to US equities, the Nasdaq 100 index fell 1.0% on Friday to test the 14,000 level, taking its losses for the week to around 1.6%. At current levels, the index is trading more than 16% below record highs last November in the 16,750 region. The bears will now look for the index to pull back towards the 13,500 area, which would mark a 20% drop from recent highs and thus confirm a “bear market”.
Meanwhile, the Dow fell 0.6% towards a test of the 34,000 level, also putting the index on track to post a second straight week of losses. The index has now reversed almost 5.0% lower from last week’s highs in the 35,800 zone. The S&P 500 CBOE or VIX volatility index, often referred to as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” rose slightly at 28.00, a more than four point rebound from previous weekly lows around 24.00.
Additional technical levels
Source: Fx Street
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