Stocks in New York closed lower on Friday as data showed that U.S. consumer sentiment dropped to a six-month low. Discussions over raising the federal government’s borrowing cap have dragged down investors’ outlooks, particularly after the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes.
The S&P 500 declined by 0.2% on Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index ended the day 0.4% lower. Tech stocks appeared to be at the heart of the day’s losses.
Among the worst-hit stocks was Tesla, which declined by 2.3%, erasing Thursday’s 2% gain. This came after CEO Elon Musk announced the appointment of former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as the new chief executive for Twitter. Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc also took heavy hits, however, the S&P 500 technology sector remains up 22% from the start of the year.
Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia, observed: “They’ve had an incredible run, so those valuation concerns are starting to manifest themselves. To their credit, they have strong balance sheets, they had decent first quarters, so their businesses seem to be holding up, but there comes a point where valuations do matter.”