Dow surges as Wall Street tries to scatter early year market debility

As investors sought to bounce back from a weak start to the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw better trading on Thursday. The 30-stock index gained 137 points, or 0.4%, to make up for the nearly 300 points it had lost the previous day. S&P 500 increased by 0.1%. In contrast, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%, extending its loss from Wednesday’s miserable trading day to over 1%.

Mega- cap tech companies like Apple are underperforming so far this year due to investors’ concerns that markets have become too exuberant due to overstretched valuations and uncertainty about the Fed’s timing of rate cuts.

This week, Apple’s stock has dropped by more than 5%. Two days after Piper Sandler downgraded the company’s rating, and two days before that, Barclays also downgraded its rating, the tech giant’s shares dropped 1% on Thursday.

The way the market concluded in 2023 sharply contrasts the previous Wall Street performance. The S&P 500 had its longest weekly winning streak since 2004 at the conclusion of the year, finishing more than 24% higher.

However, Citi Global Wealth’s chief investment strategist Steven Wieting doesn’t think the market will be significantly affected in the long run by the recent decline.


Analysts wouldn’t consider the past few days to be particularly significant, regardless of how long any of this continues. In fact, according to Wieting, the S&P 500 might close the year at or around the 5000 mark, indicating a 6% increase.