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US indexes plunged, worst week since June 2016

  • The DJIA lost 669 points in the day, roughly 4% for the week.
  • Higher inflation may be good for the economy, but not for Wall Street.

Wall Street had its worst week in almost two years, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P losing over 4% each. This Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 669 points, to settle at 25,516.76, while the S&P lost roughly 60 points or 2.13% to end the day at 2,761.99. The Nasdaq Composite lost 144 points or 1.96% and finished at 7,240.95.

The US Nonfarm Payrolls report released earlier in the day showed that the economy added 200,000 new jobs in January, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%. Wages rose 2.9% from previous 2.5% its fastest pace of growth in eight years, a sign that inflation may finally begin to pick up. Wall Street's concern is that, if inflation grows too fast, it could affect companies profits and at the same time force the Fed to raise rates at a faster pace.

All of the Dow's thirty members closed in the red, with the best performer being NIKE that only lost 0.50%, and the worst being Exxon Mobil, down for the day 6.64%, on the back of oil slump. The index settled at its lowest in three weeks, and while the decline has been quite brutal, it's quite irrelevant when considering the Dow rallied straight the previous ten months and developing within a bullish trend for eight years. 

Author

Valeria Bednarik

Valeria Bednarik was born and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her passion for math and numbers pushed her into studying economics in her younger years.

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