Over the last six weeks, the stock market has hit a yearly low and investors, who are terrified, are pulling their money.
U.S. stocks have tumbled as investors have shifted focus to the escalating trade war with China that has the potential to disrupt global growth.
S&P 500 Index, a tradable stock index that contains the top 500 U.S., has tanked and has been losing value since early February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a price-weighted average of 30 significant stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange, lost more than 700 points after President Donald Trump ordered tariffs on about $50 billion in Chinese goods.
Will Sharis, junior, expressed similar concerns on the subject, “Raising interest rates along trade war fears with China are some of the factors leading to the market receding from all time highs set earlier this year”
The Nasdaq, the technology stock index, lost an initial +1.8% and ended up closing at -1.6%. All three of the major stock indexes took massive losses with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones wiping away most of the gains investor had made for the year, causing a huge rift of panic to envelope the market.
IBM, International Business Machines, the world’s largest computer company was one of the biggest contributors to Dow’s loss of value. IBM slid 4% after the company announced a $33 billion acquisition of Red Hat (RHT). Internet, semiconductors and other technology industry groups were some of Monday’s weakest. Health care groups also fell, including generic drugs and research equipment.
Boeing also did not escape the tide of retreating investors and the company’s stock decreased by 6.6%. In addition to U.S. tariff conflicts, Boeing also faced backlash after experiencing customer panic as one of its planes, an Indonesian airliner, crashed into the sea.
The energy sector has also become unstable, with the SPDR Energy ETF (XLE) down 1.9% and sinking to its lowest point since Feb. 9. The price of crude oil dropped $1 to $66.59 a barrel and continues to fall due to the shaky markets.
Lucas Wood, junior, expressed his opinion on what caused the downfall, “I think the market got itself into a cycle. As stocks creeped down from their usual upward trend people got scared and started to sell their shares, causing even more stock failure.”
Investors are currently afraid of the unstable economy due to unstable trade with China and other nations. Everyone: investors, students, teachers, workers, and bosses alike have all taken a hit from the current market lows. Many have lost huge sums of money and are now rendered incapacitated in the market industry.
