London, Friday, 19 August 2022
U.S. stocks ended a four-week winning streak on Friday as the summer surge lost steam and all three indexes closed lower for the day and the week.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 2% as of Friday's closing bell, while the benchmark S&P 500 was down 1.3% and the Dow was down 0.9%.
The S&P 500 lost 1.2% during the course of the week, the Nasdaq lost over 2%, and the Dow lost only 0.2%.
The greatest stock story of the week came to a dramatic climax on Friday when shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) plunged 40% following the sale by GameStop (GME) chairman Ryan Cohen on Tuesday and Wednesday of his entire 11.8% stake in the firm.
The price of bitcoin (BTC-USD), the most popular cryptocurrency, fell by over 8% on Friday to trade close to $21,500, its lowest level since late July. Ethereum's (ETH-USD) price dropped by more than 8% to trade below $1,700.
After bottoming out in mid-June, the cryptocurrency markets, like stocks, have been enjoying a summer surge.
WTI crude oil futures ended the day little changed, down 0.2% to $90.29 per barrel. Crude futures reached their lowest price of $86.53 per barrel on Tuesday since January 25.
(Report by: The Decision Maker – Finance editors in New York)