Stock market today: Wall Street falls sharply to close its worst week in nearly 18 months

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Stock market today: Wall Street falls sharply to close its worst week in nearly 18 months

2024-09-07 05:17 Last Updated At：05:20

NEW YORK (AP) — Another rout hit Wall Street Friday, with formerly high-flying technology stocks again taking the brunt, after a highly anticipated update on the U.S. job market came in weak enough to add to worries about the economy.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.7% to close out its worst week since March 2023. Broadcom, Nvidia and other tech companies drove the market lower amid ongoing concerns that their prices soared too high in the boom around artificial intelligence, and they dragged the Nasdaq composite down by a market-leading 2.6%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 410 points, or 1%, after erasing a morning gain of 250 points.

Sharp swings also hit the bond market, where Treasury yields tumbled, recovered and then fell again after the jobs report showed U.S. employers hired fewer workers in August than economists expected. It was billed as the most important jobs report of the year, and it showed a second straight month where hiring came in below forecasts. It also followed recent reports showing weakness in manufacturing and some other areas in the economy.

Such a softening of the job market is actually just what the Federal Reserve and its chair, Jerome Powell, have been trying to get in order to stifle high inflation, “but only to a certain extent and the data is now testing Chair Powell’s stated limits,” said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Friday’s data raised questions about how much the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate by at its meeting later this month. The Fed is about to turn its focus more toward protecting the job market and preventing a recession after keeping the federal funds rate at a two-decade high for more than a year.

Cuts to interest rates can boost investment prices, but the worry on Wall Street is that the Fed may be moving too late. If a recession does hit, it would undercut corporate profits and erase the benefits from lower rates.

“All is not well with the labor market,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “The Fed wanted the labor market to come into better balance, but any balancing act is unstable.”

Still, the jobs report did include some encouraging data points. For one, the unemployment rate improved to 4.2% from 4.3% a month earlier. That was better than economists expected. And even if August’s hiring was weaker than forecast, it was still better than July’s pace.

Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s board of governors, said in a speech after the jobs report’s release that “I believe we should be data dependent, but not overreact to any data point, including the latest data.”

“While the labor market has clearly cooled, based on the evidence I see, I do not believe the economy is in a recession or necessarily headed for one soon,” he said.

While Waller said he thinks a “series of reductions” to rates is appropriate given that a slowing job market now looks like the bigger threat for the economy than high inflation, he said the ultimate pace and depth of those cuts is still to be determined.

All the uncertainty sent Treasury yields on a wild ride in the bond market as traders tried to handicap the Fed’s next moves.

The two-year Treasury yield initially fell as low as 3.64% after the release of the jobs report, before quickly climbing back above 3.76%. It then dropped back to 3.66% following Waller’s comments, down from 3.74% late Thursday.

Wells Fargo Investment Institute’s Wren said he was surprised by the size of markets’ swings. While data has clearly shown a slowdown in the economy, he’s still forecasting growth to continue, “and it’s not the end of the world.” He cautioned investors against panicking and selling their investments in knee-jerk reactions.

Despite its dismal week, the S&P 500 remains just 4.6% below its all-time high set in July. It’s also still up 13.4% for 2024 so far, which counts as a good year.

A big reason for Friday’s sharp drops was weakness for some big tech stocks that had been benefiting from the AI boom.

Broadcom tumbled 10.4% despite reporting profit and revenue for the latest quarter that were above analysts’ forecasts, thanks in part to AI. The chip company said it expects to make $14 billion in revenue this quarter, which was slightly below analysts’ expectations of $14.11 billion, according to FactSet. Its stock sank 15.9% for the week.

Other chip companies also fell Friday, including a 4.1% drop for Nvidia. After soaring earlier this year as its revenue surged on the AI frenzy, Nvidia’s stock has been shaky since mid-July as investors question whether they took it too high. Because of its massive size, Nvidia’s stock is one of the most influential on Wall Street, and it fell 13.9% over the week. That’s even though Nvidia has continued to top analysts’ expectations for growth.

“Earnings growth is going to slow from an incredibly high rate to something slower,” Wren said about Big Tech, “but it’s not going to be terrible.”

On the winning side of Wall Street was U.S. Steel, which rose 4.3% after the CEO of rival Cleveland Cliffs told MSNBC that his company would still be interested in acquiring U.S. Steel if the White House were to block its proposed sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 94.99 points to 5,408.42. The Dow dropped 410.34 to 40,345.41, and the Nasdaq composite lost 436.83 to 16,690.83.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Trading was halted in Hong Kong because of a typhoon.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

'Shogun' and 'Hacks' win top series Emmy Awards and 'The Bear' and 'Baby Reindeer' take 4 apiece

2024-09-16 13:05 Last Updated At：13:11

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Shogun” had historic wins in an epic 18-Emmy first season, “Hacks” scored an upset for best comedy on what was still a four-trophy night for “The Bear,” and “Baby Reindeer” had a holiday at an Emmy Awards that had some surprising swerves.

“Shogun," the FX series about power struggles in feudal Japan, won best drama series, Hiroyuki Sanada won best actor in a drama, and Anna Sawai won best actress. Sanada was the first Japanese actor to win an Emmy. Sawai became the second just moments later.

”‘Shogun’ taught me when we work together, we can make miracles,” Sanada said in his acceptance speech from the stage of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Along with 14 Emmys it claimed at the precursor Creative Arts Emmys, it had an unmatched performance with 18 overall for one season.

“Hacks” was the surprise winner of its first best comedy series award, topping “The Bear,” which most had expected to take it after big wins earlier in the evening.

Jean Smart won her third best actress in a comedy award for the third season of Max's “Hacks,” in which her stand-up comic character Deborah Vance tries to make it in late-night TV. Smart has six Emmys overall.

Despite losing out on the night's biggest comedy prize after winning it for its first season at January's strike-delayed ceremony, FX's “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White won best actor in a comedy for the second straight year, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach repeated as best supporting actor.

And Liza Colón-Zayas was the surprise best supporting actor winner over competition that included Meryl Streep, becoming the first Latina to win in the category.

“To all the Latinas who are looking at me,” she said, her eyes welling with tears. “keep believing, and vote.”

Netflix’s darkly quirky “Baby Reindeer” won best limited series. Creator and star Richard Gadd won for his lead acting and his writing and Jessica Gunning, who plays his tormentor, won best supporting actress.

Accepting the series award, Gadd urged the makers of television to take chances.

“The only constant across any success in television is good storytelling," he said. "Good storytelling that speaks to our times. So take risks, push boundaries. Explore the uncomfortable. Dare to fail in order to achieve.”

“Baby Reindeer” is based on a one man-stage show in which Gadd describes being sexually abused along with other emotional struggles.

Accepting that award, he said, “no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better.”

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Gadd has.

Jodie Foster won her first Emmy to go with her two Oscars when she took best actress in a limited series for “True Detective: Night Country.”

Foster played a salty police chief investigating a mass killing in the round-the-clock dark of an Alaskan winter on the HBO show. While her castmate Kali Reis missed out on becoming the first Indigenous actor to win an Emmy in the supporting category, Foster praised her, and the show's collaboration with Indigenous contributors.

“The Inupiaq and Inuit people of northern Alaska who told us their stories, and they allowed us to listen," Foster said. "That was just a blessing. It was love, love, love, and when you feel that, something amazing happens.”

Greg Berlanti, a producer and writer on shows including “Dawson's Creek” and “Everwood,” received the Television Academy's Governors Award for his career-long contributions to improving LGBTQ visibility on television. He talked about a childhood when there was little such visibility.

“There wasn’t a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid," Berlanti said. "It’s hard to describe how lonely that was at the time,”

The long decline of traditional broadcast TV at the Emmys continued, with zero wins between the four broadcast networks.

In the monologue that opened the ABC telecast, Dan Levy, who hosted with his father and “Schitt's Creek” co-star Eugene Levy, called the Emmys “broadcast TV’s biggest night for honoring movie stars on streaming services.”

Though other than Foster, movie stars didn't fare too well. Her fellow Oscar winners Streep and Robert Downey Jr. had been among the favorites, but came up empty.

“Robert Downey Jr. I have a poster of you in my house!” said Lamorne Morris, who beat Downey for best supporting actor in a limited series, said from the stage as he accepted his first Emmy.

The evening managed to meet many expectations but included several swerves like the win for “Hacks.”

“We were really shocked,” “Hacks co-creator Jen Statsky, who also won for writing, said after the show. ”We were truly, really surprised."

And “Shogun” got off to a quiet start, missing on early awards and not getting its first trophy until past the halfway point.

Still, it shattered the record for Emmys for one season previously held by the 2008 limited series “John Adams” in 2008. And its acting wins would have been hard to imagine before the series became an acclaimed phenomenon.

Sanada is a 63-year-old longtime screen star whose name is little known outside Japan, even if his face is through Hollywood films like “The Last Samurai” and “John Wick Chapter 4.” Sawai, 32, who was born in New Zealand and moved to Japan as a child, is significantly less known in the U.S. She wept when she accepted best actress.

"When you saw me cry on stage, it was probably the 12th time I cried today," Sawai said backstage. “It was just mixed emotions, wanting everyone to win all that. I may cry again now.”

“The Bear” would finish second with 11 overall Emmys, including guest acting wins at the Creative Arts ceremony for Jamie Lee Curtis and Jon Bernthal.

The Levys in their opening monologue mocked the show being in the comedy category.

“In honor of ‘The Bear’ we will be making no jokes,” Eugene Levy said, to laughs.

Elizabeth Debicki took best supporting actress in a drama for playing Princess Diana at the end of her life in the sixth and final season of “The Crown.”

“Playing this part, based on this unparalleled, incredible human being, has been my great privilege," Debicki said in her acceptance. "It’s been a gift.”

Several awards were presented by themed teams from TV history, including sitcom dads George Lopez, Damon Wayans and Jesse Tyler Ferguson and TV moms Meredith Baxter, Connie Britton, and Susan Kelechi Watson.

For more on this year’s Emmy Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/emmy-awards