The S&P 500 limped into the close and ended a fourth consecutive week in the red after Amazon’s (AMZN) disappointing outlook weighed on sentiment.
The benchmark index was down 3.3% in the latest week at 4,131.93 from last week’s close of 4,271.78 with all eleven sectors in the red. For the month of April, the S&P 500 suffered its heaviest losses since March 2020, down more than 9% over the last four weeks.
Stocks were defensive at the start of the week ahead of the flood of corporate results with earnings expected to disappoint following supply chain warnings from General Electric (GE) and downbeat results from Raytheon (RTX).
Economic data also contributed to the sour mood on Wall Street last week.
The economy contracted 1.4% in the first quarter, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis said in a report, but the bad news was tempered by strong consumer spending.
While personal income and spending improved in March, inflationary pressures on consumers remained high, fueling expectations that the Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates by at least 50 basis points next week.
The Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday, at which time the Fed is expected to deliver its second rate hike since 2018, and the April payroll data highlight economic data next week. The economy is expected to have created 385,000 jobs which will drive down the unemployment rate to 3.5%.
Next week’s heavy economic calendar also includes the Institute for Supply Management and final S&P Global manufacturing and service sector PMIs for April, the durable goods report, JOLTS figures, the trade balance report, non-farm productivity and unit labor costs and the ADP employment report on private jobs.
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