US STOCKS-Wall Street slide deepens after Netflix disappointment

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(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

Netflix plunges, weighs on Disney, media companies
Wall Street main indexes headed for weekly declines
Focus turning to Fed meeting for clarity on policy
Indexes down: Dow 0.41%, S&P 0.81%, Nasdaq 1.24% (Updates with mid-afternoon trading)

By Lewis Krauskopf, Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street’s main indexes dropped on Friday as Netflix shares plunged after a weak earnings report that also weighed on rivals, putting stocks on course to close out a gloomy week on a sour note.

The benchmark S&P 500 was set for its third straight week of declines, while losses deepened for the Nasdaq after the tech-heavy index earlier in the week confirmed it was in a correction, closing down over 10% from its November peak.

Netflix shares tumbled 21%, weighing on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, after the streaming giant forecast weak subscriber growth. Shares of competitor Walt Disney fell 5.8%, dragging on the Dow, while Roku slid 6.5%.

Netflix’s share decline “seems to be a big overshadow of the markets today but we have also seen weakness in tech in general since the start of this year,” said Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 143.07 points, or 0.41%, to 34,572.32, the S&P 500 lost 36.52 points, or 0.81%, to 4,446.21 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 175.38 points, or 1.24%, to 13,978.65.

Communication services was the biggest declining of the 11 S&P 500 sectors, dropping 2.4%. Defensive sectors real estate, consumer staples and utilities were the lone sectors in positive territory, rising modestly.

Stocks have gotten off to a rocky start in 2022, as a fast rise in Treasury yields amid concerns the Federal Reserve will become aggressive in controlling inflation has particularly hit tech and growth shares. The benchmark S&P 500 is down nearly 7% so far this year.

Investors are keenly focused on next week’s Fed meeting for more clarity on the central bank’s plans to tighten monetary policy in the coming months, after data last week showed U.S. consumer prices in December had the largest annual rise in nearly four decades.

“Between the Fed meeting and earnings, there is a lot that the market could be worried about next week,” Gaggar said.

Apple, Tesla and Microsoft are among the large companies due to report next week in a busy week of earnings results.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.50-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.65-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and 22 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 10 new highs and 954 new lows. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Cynthia Osterman)

Stock market news live updates: Stock losses accelerate into the close: Nasdaq drops 2%, notching worst week since 2020

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Stocks ended a volatile week lower, with investors rotating further away from growth and technology stocks that had outperformed early on during the pandemic.

The Nasdaq plummeted nearly 3%, clocking in its worst week since March 2020, while the S&P 500 and Dow accelerated losses. A day earlier, the Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 1%, adding to losses after sinking into a correction earlier this week. The Nasdaq has shed 12% for the year-to-date.

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) sank more than 20% after the company posted a first-quarter subscriber growth outlook that fell far short of expectations, with the streaming giant projecting 2.5 million new users for the first quarter of 2022 versus the 6.3 million anticipated, according to Bloomberg data. Shares of Disney (DIS) and Roku (ROKU) fell in sympathy. Meanwhile, Peloton (PTON) — which had been another darling of the so-called “stay-at-home” trade during the pandemic — recovered some losses after falling to a near two-year low on Thursday, after CNBC reported the company was cutting production of its fitness products due to flagging demand.

“It is these infamous stay-at-home plays … that had been bid up to valuations that get to the point where they’re priced for perfection,” Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday. “Anything that is released about the companies’ investment results or prospects that doesn’t meet or exceed very elevated expectations leads to gigantic disappointment in the form of a share price decline.”

“This is indicative of companies that, again, have valuations that have been bid up by investors who, on disappointment, decide to sell first and ask questions later, and therefore leave huge carnage in their wake as valuations compress to better reflect prospects under a more normal economic climate,” Luschini added.

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The drop in many closely watched, highly valued technology stocks — and the broader stock indexes — also came alongside ongoing investors jitters about a potential near-term move on interest rates from the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s next policy-setting meeting is set to take place next week, with market participants largely pricing in a first interest-rate hike out from the central bank after the Fed’s March meeting. These expectations for higher rates and less liquidity from the Fed this year have also been a key driver of recent equity price action, many strategists noted.

“I think there is a rotation going on towards those areas of the market that have been neglected for a long time — not just months, but years. Areas like financials and energy. Even health care, which is an area that had done a bit better during the pandemic, but really isn’t seeing any kind of multiples like it did in the past,” Jeffrey Kleintop, Charles Schwab chief global investment strategist, told Yahoo Finance Live on Thursday.

“I think those areas of the market have more durability here as we look at an environment where earnings growth is slowing so valuations matter more,” he added. “And many of these companies can look to generate earnings growth in this environment of rising interest rates and commodity prices, whereas tech is a bit more challenged as goods demand begins to slow.”

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4:02 p.m. ET: Nasdaq notches worst week since 2020

Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:02 p.m. ET:

S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : -85.00 (-1.90%) to 4,397.73

Dow ( ^DJI ) : -449.89 (-1.30%) to 34,265.50

Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : -385.10 (-2.72%) to 13,768.92

Crude ( CL=F ) : -$0.84 (-0.98%) to $84.71 a barrel

Gold ( GC=F ) : -$12.10 (-0.66%) to $1,830.50 per ounce

10-year Treasury (^TNX): -8.6 bps to yield 1.7470%

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1:04 p.m. ET: ‘I certainly think technology and growth is going to be a sector you want to be in’

As the Nasdaq sinks further into a correction and individual technology stocks come under considerable pressure, some analysts see the pick-up of tech earnings season next week as the start of a potential reprieve for at least some of these growth names.

“The re-thinking of valuations really just follows in the wake of rising interest rates. So we averaged 1.5% on the yield on the U.S. 10-year for all of last year, and this year we likely average somewhere between 1.75% and 2%,” National Chief Market Strategist Art Hogan, told Yahoo Finance Live on Friday. “So that price and value calculation is obviously putting pressure on multiples across the technology complex.”

“At some point in time we’ll look at this and say we’re probably overdone and we’ve taken too much multiple compression,” he added. “And what likely will be the signal that that’s the case will be when we get into earnings season in earnest next week … and see where the winners and losers really sit.”

“I certainly think technology and growth is going to be a sector you want to be in [for] 2022,” Hogan said. “But I think you want to be in it in companies that measure themselves in price to earnings.”

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10:40 a.m. ET: Leading Economic Index posts solid jump in December: Conference Board

An index tracking future domestic economic conditions accelerated in December, pointing to still-solid growth trends in the U.S. even amid ongoing concerns over the pandemic, inflation, and a more hawkish tilt to monetary policy.

The Conference Board’s closely watched Leading Economic Index (LEI) rose 0.8% in December, matching consensus estimates, according to Bloomberg data. This picked up from November’s 0.7% clip, which was downwardly revised from the 1.1% gain previously reported.

“The U.S. LEI ended 2021 on a rising trajectory, suggesting the economy will continue to expand well into the spring,” Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economic research at The Conference Board, said in a press statement.

“For the first quarter, headwinds from the Omicron variant, labor shortages, and inflationary pressures—as well as the Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate hikes—may moderate economic growth," Ozyildirim added. “The Conference Board forecasts GDP growth for Q1 2022 to slow to a relatively healthy 2.2 percent (annualized). Still, for all of 2022, we forecast the US economy will expand by a robust 3.5 percent—well above the pre-pandemic trend growth.”

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9:31 a.m. ET: Stocks open lower

Here’s where markets were trading Friday morning:

S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) : -12.92 (-0.29%) to 4,470.23

Dow ( ^DJI ) : -69.52 (-0.2%) to 34,645.87

Nasdaq ( ^IXIC ) : -57.82 (-0.41%) to 14,095.93

Crude ( CL=F ) : -$0.60 (-0.7%) to $84.95 a barrel

Gold ( GC=F ) : +$0.10 (+0.01%) to $1,842.70 per ounce

10-year Treasury (^TNX): -7.8 bps to yield 1.756%

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9:27 a.m. ET: Bitcoin extends declines, falling to around $38,000

Cryptocurrency prices tracked the volatility across risk assets this week.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, saw prices sink by 10% to below $38,000 at Friday’s lows, according to Yahoo Finance data. That marked the lowest level since early August.

Other major cryptocurrency prices also sank. Ethereum fell by more than 12% to about $2,800 Friday morning in New York. Solana prices sank 15% to below $120.

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7:31 a.m. ET Friday: Stock futures hold lower, Netflix weighs on Nasdaq

Here’s where markets were trading Friday morning:

S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : -19.75 points (-0.44%), to 4,455.00

Dow futures ( YM=F ) : -68 points (-0.2%), to 34,548.00

Nasdaq futures ( NQ=F ): -115.5 points (-0.78%) to 14,725.50

Crude ( CL=F ) : -$1.38 (-1.61%) to $84.17 a barrel

Gold ( GC=F ) : -$8.60 (-0.47%) to $1,834.00 per ounce

10-year Treasury (^TNX): -5.3 bps to yield 1.781%

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6:01 p.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures open lower

Here’s where markets were trading Thursday evening:

S&P 500 futures ( ES=F ) : -17 points (-0.38%), to 4,457.75

Dow futures ( YM=F ) :—41 points (-0.12%), to 34,575.00

Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): -128.25 points (-0.86%) to 14,712.75

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 20: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 20, 2022 in New York City. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 200 points in morning trading following days of declines. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter

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Marcedes Lewis has defied the odds his entire life

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GREEN BAY – Marcedes Lewis was 8 years old the first time his mother, Yvonne Withers, signed him up for football.

Or at least tried.

The child was a ball of energy who always had something to say with a deep, baritone voice well beyond his years. Lewis also was a head-size taller than his peers, making him an easy No. 1 selection whenever kids in his neighborhood held pickup games.

As a single mother working multiple jobs, Yvonne wasn’t thinking superstardom, scholarships or the National Football League when she scraped together the $75 registration fee.

All she wanted to do was keep her son off streets with dangerous tentacles that had latched onto several of Lewis’ close relatives.

Lewis spent most of his childhood in Long Beach, Calif. There were drugs, gangs and poverty. But even when money was its tightest, Yvonne’s goal was to keep her family “a few lights” away from the roughest parts of the area.

“I grew up on the East side of Long Beach. That’s where Snoop Dogg is from; Warren G, Nate Dogg,” Lewis explains. “When you heard gunshots, you didn’t think twice. You continued to play.”

Lewis and football began as an arranged marriage and the youngster treated it as such. Mom paid, so Lewis played but he wasn’t necessarily happy about it. When Yvonne was working, Lewis would walk 15 minutes to the city bus in pads and uniform and take the 15-minute ride to practice.

A month into this process, Lewis began noticing his friends playing outside and wanted to join in. One skipped practice led to another and the money Yvonne gave him for bus fare started to get allocated to candy and arcade games.

That was until Lewis’ youth football coach showed up at their place one day asking for Lewis’ pads. Yvonne was floored by the realization her son hadn’t been attending practice.

“I’m like, ‘What do you mean he hasn’t been to practice in two weeks? I give him money for bus fare every day,’” Yvonne recalled. “When I called him out of the room when the coach was there, he looked like a deer in headlights. His eyes were so big.”

Lewis was instructed to round up his pads and give them back to the coach. Yvonne was disappointed over the whole situation. It wasn’t about the wasted money. It’s that her son gave up – and where they come from, you don’t do that.

“I told him that next year he’s going to play again,” Yvonne said. “I said this time you’re going to finish the season. If you decide you don’t want to play after you finished the season, then you don’t have to play the next year but I don’t raise quitters.”

That is the last time Marcedes Alexis Lewis didn’t play football.

Every fall, for the past 28 years, Lewis has put on his pads and left it all on the field during a football career that’s now spanned 292 games between college and the NFL (including playoffs).

The sport allowed Lewis to break a generational family curse. He earned a full-ride scholarship to his dream school, UCLA, where he became the first in his family to earn a college degree.

Lewis became a first-round draft pick and is one of just five tight ends in NFL history to play 16 NFL seasons. His 234 regular-season games played now ranks inside the top 100 in league history.

The backbone for it all is his “Supermom,” Yvonne, who gave birth to Lewis when she was just 15 and often worked 16-hour days split between two or three jobs to make sure a roof stayed firmly above his head.

In August, at the start of his 16th NFL season, Lewis was asked what keeps him going at 37 years old. There’s one answer.

As Expected, U.S. Senate Blocks John R. Lewis Act

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By Matthew Torres

WASHINGTON, DC – After lengthy debate Wednesday night, the Senate has voted not to pass the voting rights bill named after late congressman and civil rights icon John R. Lewis, falling short by 10 votes.

According to the Congressional Research Service, The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021 would establish new criteria for determining which states and political subdivisions must obtain preclearance before changes to voting practices may take effect.

Preclearance is the process of receiving preapproval from the Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before making legal changes that would affect voting rights.

Following the news, Christopher Anders, federal policy director of the ACLU, released a statement commenting on the vote.

He said, “Although the Senate failed to advance the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, Senators in support of federal voting rights legislation cannot give up. This legislation would continue the work of the Voting Rights Act in rooting out voting barriers that discriminate against voters of color.”

In 2021, 19 states enacted 33 laws that some organizations like the Brennan Center For Justice consider “restrictive” and makes voting more difficult for Americans. These laws range from reducing polling place availability to harsher voter ID requirements.

“Today’s shameful outcome revealed who stands for, and who stands against democracy,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP.

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 took three attempts to pass into law, so we will continue to fight. Anything short of protecting the right to vote is a death sentence for democracy. The fight is far from over,” he added.

Man’s conviction stands in fatal shooting of former Kalamazoo County Commission candidate

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KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI – A jury did not error in convicting a man of voluntary manslaughter in Kalamazoo and he will not get a new trial, a judge ruled Friday.

Darien Gilleylen, 38, was convicted by a Kalamazoo County Circuit Court jury Oct. 5 of voluntary manslaughter and felony firearms in the July 15, 2019, shooting death of Shequita Lewis, 33. Lewis ran for Kalamazoo County Commissioner in 2018.

Related: Man who fatally shot former Kalamazoo County candidate in front of their children convicted of manslaughter

Gilleylen and his attorneys asked Judge Paul Bridenstine to acquit Gilleylen of the charges because the jury did not adequately consider the facts of case and the danger Gilleylen experienced at the time of the shooting. Bridenstine rejected the request after a Friday, Jan. 21, hearing in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.

On the day of the 2019 shooting, Lewis and her teenage daughter arrived at Gilleylen’s house to pickup her teenage son.

The teenagers testified Lewis was infuriated. She destroyed a TV and got into multiple physical fights with Gilleylen. He told her to leave multiple times but she refused, the teenagers testified.

Lewis then took Gilleylen to the ground and pressed a knife against his neck, the teenagers said. Gilleylen grabbed the knife and Lewis then dropped it, before he got up.

Related: Woman killed in shooting had hoped to be ‘agent of change’ in Kalamazoo

Gilleylen then went into another room, grabbed a gun, returned to the room Lewis was in and shot her once in the upper chest.

It took anywhere from 11 seconds to a minute and a half for Gilleylen to return from the other room, witnesses testified.

There were still knives in the kitchen, Lewis had been told to leave multiple times and she was three or four feet away from the back door, Gilleylen’s attorneys said.

However, Lewis was not threatening Gilleylen with bodily harm at the moment of the shooting, which means the jury was correct to not conclude the shooting was in self-defense, Bridenstine said.

“It is plausible that a rational juror could conclude at the moment of the shooting, the defendant did not honestly and reasonable believe he was in danger of bodily injury from Lewis,” Bridenstine said.

During Friday’s virtual hearing, Gilleylen did not visibly react as Bridenstine declined to acquit Gilleylen or grant him a new trial.

Gilleylen is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11. He is held at the Kalamazoo County Jail.