Stocks Swing Lower in Another Volatile Trading Session

Here are 4 Hot Things to Know About Stocks Right Now

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's plunge on Thursday of 1,033 points was its second-worst point drop in history.
Prior to Friday's open, the Dow and S&P 500 were in correction territory, down 10.4% and 10.2%, respectively, from their all-time highs.
The tech and financial sectors were the leading gainers on Friday. Nike Inc. (NKE) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) were the leading gainers on the Dow.
Oil prices fell for a sixth straight session.

Wall Street Overview

The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned sharply lower at midday on Friday, Feb. 9, as stocks traded with the same volatility experienced all week by Wall Street.

The Dow was down 145 points, or 0.6%, the S&P 500 lost 0.43%, and the Nasdaq slid 0.51%. At one point Friday, the blue-chip Dow rose 349 points, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had traded positively.

The Dow and S&P 500 entered correction territory on Thursday, Feb. 8, as investors continued to navigate extreme market volatility amid rising government bond yields and bets on faster inflation. Stocks finished with sharp losses on Thursday, with the Dow plunging 1,033 points, or 4.15%, to 23,860. The S&P 500 declined 3.75% on Thursday, and the Nasdaq slid 3.9%. The Dow fell below 24,000 for the first time since November 2016.

The Cboe's Volatility index, otherwise knows as the "fear gauge," jumped more than 20% on Thursday but was down 7.4% on Friday to 30.99.

Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields, whose rise was the trigger for the global equity market selloff that began a week ago, was flat at 2.842% on Friday after hitting 2.884% on Thursday. The yield's four-year high is 2.885%.

"When the market declines sharply, everyone naturally wonders what's wrong? Nothing is wrong economically," said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst. "The economy is doing better now than it has any time in the past decade. This is just some healthy, and overdue, volatility to wring out any excess."

Sentiment was being supported Friday by a vote by U.S. lawmakers to avoid a government shutdown after the House backed a Senate-approved plan that funds the government for a further two years with a $300 billion spending boost that would swell the federal deficit. Donald Trump tweeted Friday that he signed the bill.

Shares of chipmaker Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) rose 2.9% on Friday after the company posted fourth-quarter earnings and revenue topped Wall Street forecasts.

Adjusted profit was $1.72 a share, beating analysts' estimates of $1.17. Revenue of $2.91 billion topped estimates of $2.68 billion.

The company also said it expects revenue in its fiscal first quarter of $2.84 billion to $2.96 billion, well above a $2.46 billion consensus.

Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) board late Thursday rejected Broadcom Ltd.'s (AVGO) "best and final" acquisition offer of $82 a share, valuing Qualcom at $146.4 billion, a price tag Qualcomm's board said didn't properly value the chipmaker. Qualcomm, however, did say it was willing to meet with Broadcom to see if it can address "serious deficiencies in value and certainty."

Qualcomm shares fell 0.9% on Friday to $61.87. Broadcom fell 0.1%%.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) was up 0.7% after fourth-quarter adjusted earnings from the video game maker beat analysts' forecasts.

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) reportedly is planning to launch a delivery service for businesses and shares of FedEx Corp. (FDX) fell 2.2% and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) declined 2.2%.

Newell Brands Inc. (NWL) said it received notice Friday that activist investor Starboard Value and Opportunity Master Fund Ltd. planned to nominate 10 members to the company's board. The stock fell 3.4%.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Starboard was aligning with three former executives of Jarden Corp., which Newell bought less than two years ago in a $15 billion deal, in its campaign to change course at the consumer goods company.

Oil prices in the U.S. fell on Friday for a sixth straight session following data this week that showed record high U.S. production and indications from Iran that it plans to increase output. West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 2.2% to $59.82 a barrel. It's the first time oil has slipped below $60 for the first time in 2018.

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