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| - Wall Street stocks were sharply lower Friday afternoon as shares of GameStop and other equities gyrated amid worries over excessive equity valuations in the broader market. Near 1810 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 2.1 percent, or around 650 points, to 29,952.04. The broad-based S&P 500 shed 2.1 percent to 3,706.88, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 2.2 percent to 13,040.29. Shares of GameStop were up more than 70 percent and AMC Entertainment up nearly 65 percent, reversing big drops from Thursday, after platform Robinhood resumed trades of the volatile companies. The drop in the S&P 500 and other indices Friday resumed the trend from Wednesday when the drama over GameStop added to the market's unease. Shares of those two stocks have been on a tear much of the week as investors organized over Reddit targeted the equities to combat hedge fund short-sellers who were betting on lower prices. Some investors who were on the wrong side of the GameStop trade have liquidated other equity positions, pressuring the broader market, according to Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities. Hogan cited other factors in the pullback. While the recent batch of corporate earnings were solid, the results had been "priced for perfection," he said. Markets are also recalibrating expectations for stimulus from Washington given the skeptical response of some key lawmakers to President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package. jmb/dw
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