Netflix shares fell more than 20% after the bell
US stock markets failed to preserve early gains and finished sharply lower overnight. On the data front, first-time weekly unemployment filings were up last week, coming in near the 300,000 level, up from a 52-year low of 188,000 registered in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.89%, the S&P 500 lost 1.10%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.3%. In Individual stocks, Netflix shares fell more than 20% after the bell, to the lowest levels since June 2020, after the company reported a slower subscriber growth and offered a weaker-than-expected forecast for early 2022.
Following suit, Asian stocks traded lower on Friday amid lingering concerns over the Federal Reserve’s tightening as the meeting due next week looms. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.8%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.90% after the data showed that the national core CPI grew 0.5% year-on-year in December, while the Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes signaled that the policymakers are flagging the risk of further price pressure.
In Europe, equities opened sharply lower ahead of the weekend amid persisting fears about the pace of monetary policy tightening in the United States. The Euro STOXX dropped 1.55% in early deals, with the FTSE 100 shedding nearly 1% after the data showed that retail sales in the UK declined at a stronger pace than expected in December. Retail Sales fell by 3.7% on a monthly basis following November’s increase of 1%.
In currencies, the dollar resumed the downside on the last trading day of the week despite safe-haven flows continuing to dominate the financial markets. The greenback remains sidelined in the 95.60 area, coming under some downside pressure after another failed attempt to break above the 95.80 region. As such, EURUSD bounced back above the 1.1300 figure and was flirting with the 20-DMA during early European hours. Despite today’s recovery, the euro looks vulnerable to further losses at this point.
