Nasdaq records first five-week losing streak since 2012

The Nasdaq Composite declined for a fifth straight week — falling 1.40% to 12,144.66 on Friday — marking its longest weekly losing streak since 2012.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.5% and warned again of “much too high” inflation, which rattled markets. The Nasdaq gained in Wednesday afternoon trading after the announcement, but plunged over 5% on Thursday.

The tech-heavy index’s woes represents a significant shift in investor sentiment toward growth stocks, which consistently rose during 2020 and 2021.

Inflation concerns, the central bank rate hikes and worries about deteriorating economic conditions affecting consumer spending are forcing investors to reassess some of the most high-flying stocks over the past few years.

The Nasdaq Composite peaked on Nov. 19 at 16,057.44, and it has lost nearly a quarter of its value since then.

Some of the biggest falls came from stocks that reported earnings during the week. Lyft plummeted 36% after providing weak guidance for the current quarter. Bill.com slumped 28% after reporting slowing revenue growth, Cloudflare fell 24% after forecasting a possible loss in the current quarter and Confluent declined 23% after growth underperformed expectations.

Some of the biggest names in tech also fell this week. Amazon was off over 6% and Microsoft lost just over 1%. Apple stock was a rare gainer; it edged up 0.29% after reporting that it was more concerned about supply shocks than consumer demand.

There have been 10 times in the past decade that the stock index has reported a losing streak of at least four weeks. In October and November of 2012, the Nasdaq dropped for six straight weeks.

The Nasdaq is also on pace for its worst quarterly performance since the last three months of 2018.