S&P Foiled in Attempt to End Losing Streak
March 21,2025 04:29 pm EST
The S&P 500 fell slightly on Friday as it tried to avoid its fifth straight week of losses caused by trade policy turmoil, recession fears and a rollover in megacap technology shares.
The Dow Jones Industrials pulled into the green 32.03 points by the close to 41,985.35.
The broader index moved higher 4.67 points to 5,667.56
The NASDAQ recovered 92.43 points to 17,784.05
Traders had prepped for a likely volatile session on Friday with a so-called “quadruple witching” – when stock options, index futures, index options and single-stock futures expire. Goldman estimates that more than $4.7 trillion of notional options exposure will expire.
The session was indeed volatile with major averages coming off their lows after President Donald Trump said there would be some “flexibility” with tariffs. Trump, however, maintained that the tariffs implemented at the April 2 deadline will be reciprocal, saying that all countries that have tariffs on U.S. goods will be charged.
The S&P 500 briefly fell into correction territory at one point during its selloff since late February, and it now sits about 8% from its record high, short of the 10% correction level. The benchmark has made some attempts to rally this month without much follow-through, including on Wednesday when it snapped back by 1% after the Federal Reserve said it would still likely cut rates two times this year.
The bulk of the market's gains came on Wednesday when Federal Reserve policymakers kept their forecast for two rate cuts this year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost ground Thursday, sending yields up to 4.25% from Thursday's 4.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices doggedly added 16 cents to $68.23 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold stumbled $18.30 an ounce to $3,025.50 U.S.
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