The Dow Jones dipped 532.20 points or 1.5%, S&P 500 fell 1% for a second down day, Nasdaq Composite ended the session less than 0.1% lower, although dropped about 1.5% intraday and regained most of its losses on a triple-witch day.
Triple witching is the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options contracts all on the same trading day. This happens four times a year: on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December. Because of all three options classes expiringon the same day, it can cause unusual price action and increased trading volume in the underlying assets.
The major averages posted a negative week with the Nasdaq being the biggest loser. The tech-heavy benchmark declined nearly 3%, while the Dow and the S&P 500 slipped 1.7% and 1.9%, respectively. Apple and Microsoft, the largest by market value, were the two worst performers. Apple fell 4.6%, its worst weekly decline since February. Microsoft dropped 5.5%, the biggest weekly drop since October 2020. Google also sank 4.2%. Facebook was the one of the few gainers moving up 1.2%.
Let’s see what next week holds.
Next few weeks ‘Buy the dip” crowd will jump back in.