Summary
The stock market suffered sharp losses in the past week. The Dow Jones actually rose a fraction. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite plunged below their respective 50-day moving averages. Nvidia (NVDA), the ultimate AI stock and company, dived below key support. In the latest edition of The Daily Discussion, we look at some of the biggest news stories of the year. This week, we discuss the controversy surrounding the sale of the Washington Post. We also look at the controversy around the sale and sale of The Washington Post's sister paper, The Washington Times. Tesla cut Model Y, S and X prices in the U.S. by $2,000, while also cutting Full Self-Driving to $8,000 from $12,000. On Sunday, Tesla cut China prices for the Model 3 and Y by nearly $2k. The stock market suffered heavy losses this past week, especially the Nasdaq and leading growth plays. The market's power trend, in force since November, is over. Some stocks are holding support, with a few making encouraging moves. But generally leading stocks are looking damaged or broken. The 10-year Treasury yield hit a five-month high of nearly 4.7% on Tuesday. Markets now expect just one Fed rate cut in 2024. U.S. crude oil futures fell 2.9% to $83.14 a barrel for the week. AI chip and hardware stocks, the driving force of the market rally from late October to early March, were the big losers last week.ASML plunged 10.6% for the week on weak Q1 sales and guidance. Taiwan Semiconductor stock dived 10.4% despite beating views and guiding higher. Arm Holdings (ARM) crashed 31% for the week. It's now given up over two-thirds of its gains following the fiscal Q1 earnings on Feb. 21. Super Micro didn't give preliminary results as the AI server maker announced its upcoming Q1 Earnings. This is a time to build watchlists. You want to look for stocks finding support and showing relative strength. Earnings season could provide a positive catalyst for stocks. But, as investors saw this past week, they could trigger fresh selling. And relative winners can be absolute losers.