Stock market ends turbulent week on a low note

Wall Street was reaching for the Dramamine Friday in a bumpy trading session that saw major indices dip in and out of negative territory.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 76.42 points — or 0.3 percent — at 23,062.40 after gaining as much 243 points in earlier trades.

Friday’s close capped an historically volatile week for the blue-chip index. The Dow ended 2.8 percent higher for the week after suffering its worst-ever Christmas Eve performance on Monday — followed by its biggest-ever, single-day gain of more than 1,000 points on Wednesday.

Other indices likewise experienced turbulent trading Friday — zipping in and out of the red — with the S&P 500 ultimately shedding 0.1 percent while the Nasdaq eked out a slim 0.1 percent gain.

Analysts were hesitant to celebrate the week’s gains given the volatility of the last few months.

“I think we made a temporary bottom,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

The major indices dipped during the prior three weeks in December as investors fretted over slowing global growth, US-China trade tensions and the Federal Reserve’s rate-hiking path forward.

The partial government shutdown — in its seventh day on Friday — has also given investors reason to worry.

Agita-inducing, daily swings of several hundred points have become common for the Dow, making Friday’s narrow drop a welcome change — even though the Dow swung 400 points from its high and low peaks.

“It may be a sign that volatility could wane from the levels we saw earlier this month,” Cardillo said.

“But they’re still wide gyrations,” he added.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/12/28/stock-market-ends-turbulent-week-on-a-low-note/