Stock Market Today: S&P 500 suffers worst week since April amid wreck in tech

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 slumped to its worst weekly loss since April as the broad rotation out of high-flying tech stocks rattled markets.

At 16:00 (20:00 GMT), the S&P 500 fell 0.7% and NASDAQ Composite fell 0.8%, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 377 points, or 0.9%. Small-cap index iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) ended the week in the positive, however, underpinned by rotation into small caps as investors price in sooner rate cuts that are expected boost performance.

Netflix's guidance underwhelms; Crowdstrike outage adds to tech misery

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) fell 1.5% after reporting weaker-than-expected revenue guidance that overshadowed better-than-expected quarterly results. The streaming giant, however, also touted further efforts to boost its ad-tier streaming tier after phasing out the basic ad-free version in the U.S. and France.

"Netflix is positioning to accelerate ad tier revenue contribution into 2025 as it improves its advertising solutions and targeting, expands partnerships, and adds more live events. With this set-up, the ad tier should become the primary growth driver in 2026," Wedbush said in Friday note as it reiterated its outperform rating on the stock.

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CRWD) slumped 11% after the cybersecurity firm after deploying an update that sparked a major global IT outage that several industries including airlines and banks.

As the outage was caused by am update rather than cybersecurity vulnerable some on Wall Street believe the impact to Crowdstrike will be limited.

"Near-term, it does dent the stellar image of the company," Truist said, but adding that the company isn''t likely to lose market share to competitors.

Arm Holdings ADR (NASDAQ:ARM), up 3%, sidestepped the weakness in tech after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded its rating on the chip designer to overweight from equalweight amid AI-led optimism.

The tech sector will remain in focus next week, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google-owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are all set to report on Tuesday.

AMEX, Travelers stumble, but Intuitive Surgical shines on earnings stage; Plug Power plunges on stock sale plans

American Express (NYSE:AXP) stock fell over 2% after the credit card giant reported disappointing revenue growth even as it beat estimates for second-quarter profit as its wealthy customers persisted in spending.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) climbed over 9% after second-quarter results beat estimates, while Travelers (NYSE:TRV) slumped 8% after the insurer reported an underwriting loss of $65 million driven by substantial catastrophe losses of $1.5 billion.

Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) fell 14% after unveiling plans Thursday to sell $200 million of stock.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) surged 6% after Elliot Investment Management took a big stake in the company, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The activist investment manager has also been talking with the company privately on how to boost its share price, WSJ reported, citing unnamed sources.

Political wrangling in focus as calls grow for Biden to exit race

The 2024 presidential race was also a point of focus for Wall Street, amid growing calls from members of the Democratic party for Biden to not seek re-election.

Reports on Thursday said former House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi had told House democrats that Biden could be persuaded to exit the race.

Concerns over Biden’s health, coupled with the increasing popularity of Republican nominee Donald Trump, have sparked doubts over whether Biden will be able to clinch a second term.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

This article first appeared in Investing.com