Instant View: Nasdaq confirms correction as U.S. stock retreat gathers steam

NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) – The Nasdaq Composite index on Thursday confirmed a correction denoting a decline of 10% or more from its October 29 record high, the latest setback for U.S. markets approaching one month of the war on Iran. 

On Thursday, major U.S. stock indexes declined at least 1%, led by a 2.4% retreat in the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 is on track for a fifth consecutive weekly drop. A 7.9% pullback in Meta Platforms on Thursday came after court rulings this week found the Facebook parent failed to adequately warn or protect young users, stoking concerns about billions of dollars in fines from new cases and follow-on litigation.

U.S. crude prices rose 4% as hopes for a swift end to the war in the Middle East faded.

COMMENTS:

STEVE SOSNICK, MARKET STRATEGIST, INTERACTIVE BROKERS, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT:“We’ve kind of gotten out of the habit of big drops, so this is a meaningful wakeup call to remind people that stock market risk still exists in a world where everyone has become accustomed to the rewards of investing. I’m not freaking out that this particular index is in correction territory, but it’s true that across the board, we’re seeing lower lows and lower highs. There definitely has been an erosion in market enthusiasm since hostilities broke out, and it’s unrealistic to expect that to reverse itself overnight, even if the conflict ends tomorrow.”

JIM CARROLL, SENIOR WEALTH ADVISOR & PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BALLAST ROCK PRIVATE WEALTH, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA:

“This has not been a straight line downwards: this week alone, in four trading days, we saw up days on Monday and Wednesday and retreats today and Tuesday. It’s reminiscent of 2022, when we had a pretty orderly retreat amid acceptable volatility.

“However, this back and forth movement is enough to make people seasick. You think you know what is going to happen, make a change in your trading or portfolio, and you get punched in the face the next day when the market moves in the opposite direction. And I think we’re only one headline from the market ripping 10% higher.”

ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B. RILEY WEALTH MANAGEMENT, BOSTON: 

“We entered this with softness in technology writ large, which makes up most of the Nasdaq to begin with. So, you flash back four weeks ago before this all started, and you had software-mageddon, you had AI CapEx concerns, and a lot of the big names in the Nasdaq had already rolled over, and then just add this fuel to that fire, and it’s not hard to get to a place where a 10% from peak to trough kind of makes sense. Just knowing full well that coming into this, tech was pretty washed out, and that makes up a big slug of the Nasdaq.” 

RYAN DETRICK, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, CARSON GROUP, OMAHA, NEBRASKA: 

“This is further confirmation that the weakness we’ve been seeing across the board continues. You know the large cap tech which did so well over the last two years has obviously peaked and weakened on a relative basis since late October and the Mag 7 is no longer the leaders they once were. You know, some call them now the “Lag 7” as again the selling is indiscriminate really.”

PETER TUZ, PRESIDENT OF CHASE INVESTMENT COUNSEL, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA:

“After three good years for markets, a sell-off of 10%-20% should not surprise anyone. We had one last year during the tariff proposals.  Bad technical indicators might, however, encourage selling and discourage buying until the situation clears up a bit.”

(Reporting by Suzanne McGee, Chuck Mikolajczak, Stephen Culp, Sinead Carew; editing by Colin Barr)