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Stocks declined again Friday on choppy action. After opening down and appearing to continue the rapid declines of yesterday, the major indices bounced back in morning trading, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq briefly swinging to gain between 11 am ET and 11:30 am ET.
However, the morning’s uncertainty gave way to more selling as the bears took hold of the markets around noon ET and pressed losses through the closing bell. When all was said and done, it was another rough day for the markets with the Nasdaq leading losses again.
The same culprits were driving losses, with tech and growth stocks shedding value as investors appeared to flee to safer, more defensive plays. Biotechs were getting hit especially hard for the second straight day. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index ETF (IBB) fell 2.9 percent and the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) was off 4 percent.
Yields on 10-year Treasury Notes declined 15 basis points to 2.62 percent, supporting the theory that investors are looking to shed risk during this uncertain period in the markets. It represented the third-straight weekly loss for the Nasdaq Composite and pushed the index back below 4,000.
Results for April 11, 2014
● Standard & Poor’s 500: -0.95 percent to 1,815.69 points
● Dow Jones Industrial Average: -0.89 percent to 16,026.75 points
● NASDAQ Exchange: -1.34 percent to 3,999.73 points
Our Top Stories
● Equities.com Director of Research Francis Gaskins wrapped up another busy week of IPOs with a look at the six companies debuting today: Zoe’s Kitchen ($ZOES), Paycom Software ($PAYC), Phibro Animal Health ($PAHC), Aldeyra Therapeutics ($ALDX), Enable Midstream Partners ($ENBL), and City Office REIT ($CIO).
● And next week has another 9 IPOs scheduled to hit the Street.
● Meng Meng looks at what the closures of 360 Family Dollar Stores (FDO) locations might mean about the broader economy.
● George Brooks looks at how computer selling may have driven some of Thursday’s sell off, but that could just mean Monday will bring a buying opportunity.
● Senior Editor Jacob Harper looks at how Facebook (FB) has created a business model where the user is both the product and the consumer.
Stocks
● JP Morgan (JPM) fell 3.66 percent after Wall Street didn’t like its earnings report, while Wells Fargo (WFC) gained 0.78 on an otherwise rough day for markets on its positive earnings report.
● A rough day for tech stocks was headlined by Sprint (S) shedding 6.25 percent, BlackBerry (BBRY) falling 5.08 percent, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) losing 5.19 percent.