U.S. stocks ended a wild week filled with hopes and fears over regional bank collapses on a sour note, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping nearly 400 points on Friday.
The Dow lost 384.57 points (1.19%) to close at 31,861.98. The S&P 500 also lost more than 1% (1.10%) to fall to 3,916.64. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.74% to finish at 11,630.51.
The Dow finished in negative territory for the week (-0.15%), but the S&P 500 (+1.43) and Nasdaq (+4.41%) closed the tumultuous week on top.
The week started on shaky ground from the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapses, sending the Dow down by 500 points on Wednesday. But two other major players — First Republic and Credit Suisse — did similar damage at the end of the week despite been thrown lifelines by big investors.
Following a Thursday bounce back, First Republic saw it’s stock fall by one-third on Friday to finish down 72% for the week. Credit Suisse suffered only a 7% loss on Friday but still lost 24% for the week, as banking concerns have investors pulling back — at least until the smoke clears from the financial systems fiasco.
It all comes as the Federal Reserve prepares to announce another round of interest rate hikes next week. Despite the uncertainty in the banking industry and signs that inflation is cooling, analysts expect the Fed to prescribe another 0.25% raise in interest rates.
