- U.S. stocks declined last week after an alarming August inflation report came in above expectations and spooked investors. The S&P 500 Index posted its largely weekly price drop since mid-June.
- All S&P 500 sectors were negative. Health care and energy were down less than 3% on the week while other sectors including communication services and technology were more than 6% lower. Mega-cap parent companies Alphabet (Google) and Meta Platforms (FaceBook) set fresh 52-week stock price lows.
- A few other names worth mentioning include FedEx which warned of a quarterly revenue decline and is going to freeze hiring, close offices, and reduce ground operations to cope. Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek recently stated that ESPN should be a growth engine and large part of Disney in the future as the price of sports broadcasting has risen. Billionaire investor and Third Point founder Dan Loeb originally called for an ESPN spinoff but has since backed down following Chapek’s statement. Starbucks plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to update store designs and equipment. These improvements should lead to speedier customer service and higher profit levels.
- Within styles, value stocks led growth while small market-cap stocks slightly beat out large-caps.
