Another wipeout walloped Wall Street on Friday, with worries building about a potentially toxic mix of worsening inflation and a US economy slowing because of households afraid to spend due to the global trade war.
- The Dow fell 715.80 points, or 1.7%, to 41,583.90, finishing the week down 1%.
- The S&P 500 fell 112.37 points, or 2%, to 5,580.94, leaving it down 1.5% for the week.
- The Nasdaq fell 481.04 points, or 2.7%, to 17,322.99, down 2.6% for the week.
Lululemon Athletica led the market lower with a drop of 14.2%, though the seller of athletic apparel reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, the AP reports. It warned that its revenue growth may slow, in part because "consumers are spending less due to increased concerns about inflation and the economy," said CEO Calvin McDonald. Oxford Industries, the company behind the Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands, likewise reported stronger results than expected but still saw its stock fall 5.7%. CEO Tom Chubb said it saw a "deterioration in consumer sentiment that also weighed on demand" beginning in January, which accelerated into February.
They're discouraging data points when one of the main worries hitting Wall Street is that President Trump's escalating tariffs may cause households and businesses to freeze their spending. Even if the tariffs end up being less painful than feared, the uncertainty may filter into changed behaviors that hurt the economy. One report issued Friday showed all types of US consumers are getting more pessimistic about their future finances, and another indicated that an underlying measure of how much income Americans are making, which excludes government social benefits, and some other items, "has been treading water for the last three months," said Brian Jacobsen of Annex Wealth Management. "Households aren't in a good place to absorb a little tariff pain." (More stock market stories.)
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