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US stocks fell on Friday as a flurry of weak corporate earnings cut short a recent rebound and left the S&P 500 on course for its fifth week in a row of declines.
The S&P was down 0.7 per cent by late morning, with all 11 sectors in negative territory, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.6 per cent.
FedEx shares slid 9.4 per cent after the company lowered its earnings forecasts, blaming persistent “weakness and uncertainty in the US industrial economy”.
Nike dropped 5.9 per cent after warning that it expected sales to decline, citing tariffs and falling consumer confidence. Shares in Lennar fell 4.57 per cent after America’s second-largest homebuilder warned that “persistently high interest rates and inflation” combined with a downturn in consumer confidence and a limited supply of affordable properties had “made it increasingly difficult for consumers to access home ownership”.
The move means the Wall Street benchmark has given up its small gains from earlier in the week, and is heading for its longest streak of weekly losses in nearly three years.
Stocks have been rocked in recent weeks by concerns about the economic fallout from President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies, as well as a sell-off in the previously high-flying tech sector, pulling the S&P into correction territory.
A rebound earlier in the week after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold but signalled openness to reductions later in the year proved shortlived.
“Markets are increasingly focusing on the growth scare caused by Trump policies,” said Manish Kabra, head of US equity strategy at Société Générale. “Both tariffs and [Department of Government Efficiency cuts] increase uncertainty,” he added.
The US president’s tariff announcements “have been more aggressive and muddled than expected”, said Bank of America analysts led by Claudio Irigoyen, while Doge cuts will weigh on government and consumer spending as a result of rising lay-offs.
BofA this week lowered its US GDP forecast for the first half of the year to 1.5 per cent from 2.4 per cent, and raised its target for “core” inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, to 3 per cent for the second half of 2025.
A Goldman Sachs survey of 150 investors, released on Thursday, showed 90 per cent had lowered their 2025 GDP forecasts since early December.
Three in five investors said tariffs were “the largest policy risk to the economy” this year.
