The New York stock market ended the day with a mixed performance on Thursday ahead of the Easter holiday.
Investors struggled to find direction amid ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions and reports that U.S. President Donald Trump was considering dismissing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty.
Nvidia’s stock continued its downward trend for a second consecutive day, dropping 2.9% as the impact of additional semiconductor export controls to China remained.
In contrast, Eli Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company by market capitalization, saw its shares skyrocket over 14% after revealing positive results for its oral weight-loss and diabetes treatment, Orfoglipron.
The market will be closed on Friday for Good Friday, the first day of the Easter holiday.
Market Unease
An air of uncertainty permeated the market.
Ahead of the holiday, U.S.-China trade war concerns and rumors of Trump potentially dismissing Powell threw the market into disarray.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the third straight session, closing down 527.16 points (1.33%) at 39,142.23. It suffered a 2.66% loss over the week, the steepest decline among the three major indices.
The Nasdaq also dipped, but not as severely as the Dow. It ended 20.71 points (0.13%) lower at 16,286.45, with a weekly drop of 2.62%, less than the Dow’s decline.
The S&P 500 was the sole major index to rise, though its gain was minimal. It rose 7.00 points (0.13%) to close at 5,282.70, posting the smallest weekly loss of 1.51% among the three indices.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street’s Fear Gauge, fell below 30, closing down 2.99 points (9.16%) at 29.65.
The VIX has plummeted 21% over the past week and has fallen more than 43% from its April 8 peak of 52.33.
M7, Only Apple Gains
Among the M7 tech giants, only Apple managed to post gains.
Apple shares climbed 2.71 USD (1.39%) to close at 196.98 USD.
Nvidia, however, extended its losing streak, falling 3.00 USD (2.87%) to 101.49 USD.
Tesla dipped 0.18 USD (0.07%) to 241.37 USD, while Alphabet shed 2.14 USD (1.38%) to finish at 153.36 USD.
Microsoft (MS) declined 3.83 USD (1.03%) to 367.78 USD, and Amazon closed down 1.72 USD (0.99%) at 172.61 USD.
Meta Platforms ended the session 0.83 USD (0.17%) lower at 501.48 USD.
Lilly Soars, UnitedHealth Tumbles
The healthcare sector saw divergent fortunes.
Eli Lilly’s stock surged after its oral weight-loss and diabetes drug, Orfoglipron, demonstrated both safety and efficacy in Phase 3 clinical trials.
Lilly shares rocketed 105.06 USD (14.30%) to 839.96 USD.
Meanwhile, Danish rival Novo Nordisk, which pioneered the GLP-1 class diabetes treatment Mounjaro and weight-loss drug Wegovy, saw its stock plummet.
Amid fears of losing market share to the new oral medication, Novo’s American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) tumbled 4.80 USD (7.63%) to 58.08 USD.
U.S. health insurance company UnitedHealth plunged over 22%.
The company, recently in the spotlight after its CEO, who was notorious for denying insurance claims, was assassinated in New York City, saw its stock price plunge following disappointing earnings and a gloomy forecast for the year.
UnitedHealth shares nosedived 130.93 USD (22.38%) to 454.11 USD.
