The Clap
The S&P 500 fell into bear market territory last Friday when it briefly reached a level 20% lower than its January 3, 2022 record-high.
The deets
While the index managed to close Friday out of the bear market territory, it was down for the seventh consecutive week.
Since the S&P 500 is a market-cap weighted index, giant tech companies have the most weight. According to Bloomberg, without Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta & Microsoft, the S&P 500 would only be down 12% YTD rather than the current 18.6%.
Why this matters
Investors view the S&P 500 as the benchmark for U.S. stock performance due to its wide market breadth of large-cap companies.
With the U.S. economy recording negative Q1-2022 growth, retailers missing on earnings expectations, inflation persistently high, & rising interest rates, investors are having a hard time finding a silver lining.
