Stocks continue to slide, British pound hits 37-year low against U.S. dollar, FedEx stock plunges
Yahoo Finance anchors break down how markets are trading at the end of the week.
Video Transcript
- Let's get you up to speed on the selling action that we're seeing in this afternoon, a dire warning from FedEx really spooking the market here. All three of the major averages are in the red as we enter the final hour of trading for the week. On an intraday basis, we're looking at the Dow off just around 6/10 of a percent so far for the week, the Dow off just over 4%.
Some heavy selling that we've seen in the S&P over the last five days for today-- we're just off the lows of the session five days, though, a decline of just about 5%. A lot of the losses that we've been seeing here over the last couple of trading days has been driven by some of those larger cap tech names. We're seeing that reflected in the NASDAQ, the NASDAQ the worst performer of the week of the three major averages, off just around 6%.
We're also seeing some selling in the Russell 2000 today, small caps under pressure, off just over 2% so far today. Taking a look at some of the action here in the dollar, the dollar index pulling back just a bit right around the flatline on a five day glance, so still trading to the upside, up just around 1.3%.
Let's take a look at the sector action here in terms of what we're seeing today, a bit of a mixed picture, consumer staples, utilities holding onto gains. Worst performers for the day, energy and industrials on a five day basis, so all 11 of the S&P sectors are in the red, the worst losses that we're seeing from materials, industrials, and real estate.
I also quickly want to pull up the transports and taking a look at some of the selling that we're seeing, at least for today, among the worst performers, UPS, Union Pacific obviously an indicator here, a leading indicator of what we could see in the markets and the economy, so important stocks to keep an eye on. Rochelle.
- Indeed. Well, let's get you up to speed. Now, what we're seeing with the British pound versus the US dollar, a perfect storm of economic data disappointments sent the pound Sterling to a 37-year low against the dollar, below $1.14. Now that's after the Office for National Statistics reported August retail sales significantly disappointed. In fact they sank 1.6% month on month, the biggest drop since December of 2021.
And of course, a weaker pound makes it harder for the Bank of England to rein in inflation. We also have an energy crisis and recession fears, and add that against the backdrop of a strong US dollar. The dollar index volatile today, but nearing a two-decade high on expectations of another jumbo rate hike coming from the Fed next week, Dave.
- All right, let's get you up to speed on that news that Seana mentioned. The story moving markets around the world, FedEx on pace for its worst day ever after a warning that the slowing global economy will cause it to fall $500 million short of its revenue target. The company said demand for packages weakened considerably in the final weeks of the quarter.
Said CEO Raj Subramaniam, quote, "global volumes declined as macroeconomic trends significantly worsened later in the quarter, both internationally and in the US." And when asked by Jim Cramer if the economy is entering a, quote, "worldwide recession," Subramanian said, I think so, the CEO also telling Cramer, we are a reflection of everybody else's business.
Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan was a big believer in this FedEx indicator, as some would call it, when it comes to the health of our economy. And shares, as you can see, of FedEx plunging more than 20%. UPS and Amazon both down as well on this news.