Friday’s slump, especially, was unexpected, given that it came on the back of a rebound in US retail sales after May’s slide and after a better-than-expected start this week to the corporate earnings season.
"One thing that was very clear this week is that pricing pressures are not easing," Ed Moya, analyst at New York’s OANDA brokerage, said, referring to the concerns about stock overvaluations. "COVID-19 concerns still linger and the economic outlook is not as bright as it was just a few weeks ago."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broadest US equity barometer on the New York Stock Exchange, fell almost 300 points on the day to close down 0.8 percent on the day at 34,688. The Dow lost 0.5 percent on the week for its sharpest slide in five weeks.
The S&P 500 index, which groups the top 500 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, fell almost 33 points, or 0.4 percent, at 4,237. For the week, the S&P lost almost 1.0 percent, also its most in five weeks.
The Nasdaq Composite, which includes high-flying tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Google, lost 116 points or 0.8 percent to close at 14,427. For the week, Nasdaq lost 1.9 percent, its most since the week to May 7.