By Brooke Mallory, OAN Staff
Friday, August 2, 2024 3:52 PM
Fears of an impending economic recession are having a noticeable impact on the U.S. stock market, with most stocks seeing heavy sell-offs.
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In a stunning setback for the markets, $2.9 trillion in stocks were liquidated during the early morning trading hours on August 2nd.and The sharp sell-off was driven by recent jobs data and growing fears of a global recession, making Friday stocks’ worst day since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“The market heat map paints a bleak picture, with most sectors dominated by deep red. Major technology stocks such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) plummeted by over 2% and 5%, respectively. Communication services giants such as Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) also saw large declines of 2.7% and 3.3%,” finbold.com reported.
Consumer cyclicals were also hit hard, with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) plummeting 11% and taking big losses. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) also notable for its decline of 1.92%. The financial sector also saw big losses, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) dropping 1.45% and 1.84%, respectively.
The healthcare sector, usually considered a safe haven during market turmoil, saw mixed results, with some companies such as Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) showing resilience with a modest gain of 3.23%, while Eli Lilly (LLY) fell 4.14%.
Additionally, consumer defensive stocks, which are typically considered to be more resilient during economic downturns, were no exception: Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) both fell 0.92% and 1.66%, respectively.
The utilities and energy sector also faced heavy losses, negatively impacting companies such as Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX), with experts saying it “signals that the market downturn is widespread.”
The early morning moves by the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants were a reminder of the ongoing selling pressure: Their market capitalizations have changed by more than $3 trillion over the past three weeks, according to Finnbold’s analysis, raising concerns about a possible economic downturn.
Investors in Europe and Asia were similarly spooked by growing fears that the U.S. economy was heading toward a recession, sparking selling around the world, exacerbated by a weak jobs report that showed the job market was cooling sharply and the unemployment rate was rising.
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