US equity markets logged modest losses following another volatile session that saw the benchmark indices relinquish earlier gains - Dow dipped -7-points or +0.02% after trading more than >600-points higher earlier in the session. The broader S&P500 -0.54% to 4,326.51, settling just above 4,316.905, the level below which would see the index fall into official correction territory (or a fall of at least 10% from its record closing high of ). The Consumer Discretionary sector dropped -2.27% to lead five of the eleven primary sectors lower. Energy sat atop the primary sector leaderboard with a +1.24% gain. The Nasdaq -1.40% to 13,352.78, with the technology centric index on track pace for its longest weekly losing streak since November 2012. The Nasdaq is ~17.6% below its 19 November, 2021 record peak of 16,212.23. Netflix Inc (up +7.51%) continued to climb following confirmation after the close of Wednesday’s (26 January) session that Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman said his firm “recently” purchased more than 3.1M shares in the streaming giant, making it a top-20 holder of the stock. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 -2.29% at 1,931.29, ~21% below its record close of 2,442.74 set on 8 November, 2021 and marking the indice’s first bear market since 9 March, 2020. The latest pullback has the Dow, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 on pace for their worst months since March 2020, while the Nasdaq was sliding closer to its worst month since October 2008.
