Nasdaq records first five-week losing streak since 2012

The Nasdaq Composite fell for a fifth straight week, dropping about 1.40% to $12,144.66 over the past five days, wrapping up its longest weekly losing streak since 2012.

During the past week, the Fed raised interest rates by 0.5%, and warned again of “much too high” inflation, which rattled markets. The Nasdaq dropped over 5% on Thursday, a day after the Fed meeting.

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

Inflation concerns, fed 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 fell 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 fell 23% after growth underperformed expectations.

Some of the top tech companies on the index also fell during the week. Amazon fell over 6% and Microsoft lost just over 1% of its value. Apple stock was up 0.29% at the end of the week after reporting last week that it was more concerned about supply shocks than consumer demand.

There have been ten times in the past decade that the Nasdaq Composite 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.