Stock Market Watch

Stocks End Lower for the Week

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After logging in record gains in the first quarter, stocks have begun the second quarter on a weak note, posting losses for two weeks in a row.

For the week ended April 13, the Dow Jones fell 1.61%, the S&P 500 fell 1.99%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.25%.


All three major indexes had posted their best first quarter performance in years in the previous quarter. However, the story has been different in the second quarter so far. The major reason behind the decline in the last two weeks has been renewed worries about the euro zone debt crisis and a slowdown in China.

Investors’ sentiment was also weighed down this week by a weaker than expected U.S. jobs report for the month of March. According to figures released by the Labor Department on April 6, the U.S. economy added only 120,000 jobs in March, well below economists’ forecast. A surprise rise in initial jobless claims for the week ended April 7 has also cast doubts about the U.S. economic recovery.

But the biggest worry has been the euro zone. This week, yields on 10-year Spanish bonds rose sharply, raising concerns about euro zone’s fourth-largest economy. China’s first-quarter GDP data, which was released on Friday, also hurt sentiments and has raised concerns about a hard landing in the world’s fastest growing major economy.

There were some positives in the week ended April 13. Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA), the New York City-based aluminum producer, kicked off the latest U.S. earnings season on a strong note reporting better than expected results for the first quarter.

Next week will be one of the busiest weeks in the quarterly earnings season, with about 86 companies in the S&P 500 expected to post results, as per data from Thomson Reuters Director’s Report.

 

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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