Major Wall Street indexes extended losses for a second straight session on Friday, heading for weekly declines as mounting concerns over the economy and stretched valuations in technology stocks weighed on investor sentiment.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell nearly 2% on Thursday after top Wall Street executives warned earlier in the week that the market could be approaching a sharp correction.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average appeared on track for their largest weekly losses in four weeks, while the Nasdaq was heading for its worst week since March.
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said: “There’s a lingering sense of unease about a potential market pullback… This is typical seasonal weakness in early November, fueled by high valuations and a lack of fresh catalysts to lift markets higher.”
The AI-driven rally that propelled equities to record highs this year has started to fade, as doubts grow over the tech sector’s ability to generate sustainable profits from artificial intelligence, and as intra-sector spending cycles drain enthusiasm for US stocks.
Tech shares led the decline, with Nvidia falling 2.8% and Broadcom sliding 2.2%. Both the information technology sector and the semiconductor index were on pace for their steepest weekly losses in seven months.
At 10:01 a.m. Eastern Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 138.50 points, or 0.30%, to 46,773.80. The S&P 500 lost 46.63 points (0.69%) to 6,673.69, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 278.31 points (1.21%) to 22,775.68.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) — known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — climbed to its highest level in over two weeks.
Meanwhile, Tesla shareholders approved the largest compensation package in history for CEO Elon Musk, though Tesla shares fell 3.3% amid the broader market selloff, putting additional pressure on the consumer discretionary sector.
Earnings data from LSEG showed that, as of Thursday, 83% of the 424 S&P 500 companies that had reported results beat Wall Street expectations — the highest rate of positive surprises since the second quarter of 2021.
Expedia shares surged 16%, leading the S&P 500, after the company raised its full-year revenue growth forecast and posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings.
**Economic concerns persist**
The longest government shutdown in US history has created a major data void at a time when Federal Reserve policymakers remain divided over the future of interest rates, while private-sector indicators continue to paint a mixed picture of the economy.
Kevin Hassett, White House economic adviser, told Fox Business that the economic impact of the shutdown had been “far worse than expected.”
Separately, the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index dropped to 50.3 this month, below analysts’ estimates of 53.2, according to a Reuters poll.
Stovall added: “The question now is whether this shutdown will deepen the slowdown in the US economy. There’s a high degree of uncertainty — it’s not just the Fed flying blind, but also the American consumer and investor.”
Elsewhere, shares of Block fell 10.5% after the company missed quarterly profit expectations, while Take-Two Interactive slid 6.6% following news that the release of *Grand Theft Auto VI* had been delayed to November 2026.
On the NYSE, declining issues outnumbered advancers by a ratio of 1.29 to 1, while on the Nasdaq the ratio stood at 1.99 to 1.
The S&P 500 recorded eight new 52-week highs and ten new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite posted 18 new highs and 211 new lows.
