October hasn’t been kind to U.S. stocks as the technology sector continues to get trounced with the S&P 500 playing a game of “Follow the Leader ” with the Nasdaq Composite, heading into correction territory with as much as a 10% slide from its 52-week high. Despite this, does the latest sell-off in U.S. equities set the stage for a year-end rally?
If stocks, particularly within the technology sector, are to come back, it will need some help from the heaviest of hitters–the FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) stocks, which have been languishing for the most part amid October’s sell-off. However, they are the same names that helped spur the 10-year bull run and if the markets want to end 2018 on a positive note, it will need the FANG stocks to perform.
Of course, however, some analysts say that a year-end comeback will be much harder than it sounds.
“We are increasingly thinking a rally into year-end will be harder to come by as lower liquidity and concerns on peaking growth weigh on the S&P and an investor base in defense mode,” strategists at Morgan Stanley noted.
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The Nasdaq Composite was down over 200 points Friday as the once-heralded FANG stocks continued to sell off. On Wednesday, the Nasdaq experienced its worst loss since August 2011 as companies like Texas Instruments and AT&T reported weak third-quarter results.
After the markets closed on Thursday, Amazon reported better-than-expected earnings, but shares of the online retailer fell after hours by as much as 8% and another 8% to start Friday’s trading session. Amazon’s earnings per share came in at $5.75 versus forecasts of $3.14, but revenue generated came in at $56.6 billion as opposed to the estimated $57.10 million expected by analysts.
Adding fuel to the revenue miss flame was a weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter guidance, which came in between $2.1 billion and $3.6 billion–under the $3.8 billion estimate. Earlier this month, Amazon announced it would increase minimum wage to $15 per hour for all U.S. workers, which it factored into its fourth-quarter revenue guidance.
Netflix’s third-quarter revenue came in exactly at the estimated $4 billion expected per a Refinitiv consensus estimate, but bested earnings per share (EPS) estimates of 68 cents with 89 cents for the third quarter. Furthermore, subscriber additions came in at 6.96 million with domestic subscriber additions reaching 1.09 million versus 673,800 estimated, and international subscriber additions reaching 5.87 million as opposed to the 4.46 million estimated.