Only one day after crystal-clear dovish signals by the Federal Reserve helped push stocks higher, fear of a recession sent bond prices soaring and stock prices tumbling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.77% sank 460 points, or 1.8%, to close at 25,502.32 Friday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.90% slumped 1.9% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -2.50% fared even worse, sliding 2.5%.
While it can never say it expects a recession, the Federal Open Market Committee’s two policy announcements on Wednesday — to leave the federal-funds rate unchanged while planning to stop the shrinkage of the Federal Reserve’s bond portfolio at the end of September — seemed to spook investors. But Thursday, those same announcements and the lower interest rates they implied had helped lift stock prices.
The bond market sent a prerecession signal on Friday, as the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes TMUBMUSD10Y, -3.66% skidded 10 basis points to 2.44%. That put it lower than the 2.46% yield on 3-month Treasury bills TMUBMUSD03M, -0.54% — the first time since 2007.
Dow losers: 26 out of 30
Here’s how all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average performed on Friday, sorted from worst to best:
| Company | Ticker | Price change - March 22 | Price change - March 21 | Price change - 2019 | Price change - 2018 |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, -6.61% | -6.6% | 1.5% | 10.9% | 18.5% |
| DowDuPont Inc. | DWDP, -3.58% | -3.5% | 1.7% | 0.9% | -24.9% |
| Caterpillar Inc. | CAT, -3.20% | -3.2% | 0.8% | 2.1% | -19.4% |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. | JPM, -3.02% | -3.0% | -1.6% | 2.2% | -8.7% |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | GS, -2.89% | -2.9% | 0.1% | 13.1% | -34.4% |
| Boeing Co. | BA, -2.83% | -2.8% | -0.9% | 12.3% | 9.4% |
| Microsoft Corp. | MSFT, -2.64% | -2.6% | 2.3% | 15.2% | 18.7% |
| Intel Corp. | INTC, -2.53% | -2.5% | 1.5% | 13.5% | 1.7% |
| 3M Co. | MMM, -2.36% | -2.4% | 0.6% | 7.4% | -19.0% |
| Cisco Systems Inc. | CSCO, -2.22% | -2.2% | 1.3% | 21.7% | 13.1% |
| Chevron Corp. | CVX, -2.20% | -2.2% | 0.9% | 13.1% | -13.1% |
| American Express Co. | AXP, -2.11% | -2.1% | 0.9% | 14.8% | -4.0% |
| Apple Inc. | AAPL, -2.07% | -2.1% | 3.7% | 21.1% | -6.8% |
| UnitedHealth Group Inc. | UNH, -1.96% | -1.9% | 0.6% | -0.8% | 13.0% |
| Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. | WBA, -1.87% | -1.9% | 1.3% | -8.7% | -5.9% |
| Visa Inc. Class A | V, -1.75% | -1.8% | 1.3% | 16.0% | 15.7% |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. | XOM, -1.60% | -1.6% | 0.6% | 18.0% | -18.5% |
| International Business Machines Corp. | IBM, -1.41% | -1.4% | 1.3% | 22.7% | -25.9% |
| United Technologies Corp. | UTX, -1.36% | -1.3% | 1.3% | 17.6% | -16.5% |
| Pfizer Inc. | PFE, -1.18% | -1.2% | 0.4% | -4.1% | 20.5% |
| Johnson & Johnson | JNJ, -0.86% | -0.9% | 0.6% | 6.1% | -7.6% |
| Procter & Gamble Co. | PG, -0.81% | -0.8% | 0.8% | 10.6% | 0.0% |
| Walmart Inc. | WMT, -0.79% | -0.8% | 0.4% | 5.5% | -5.7% |
| Merck & Co. Inc. | MRK, -0.80% | -0.8% | 1.1% | 7.7% | 35.8% |
| Home Depot Inc. | HD, -0.64% | -0.6% | 2.1% | 9.9% | -9.3% |
| Walt Disney Co. | DIS, -0.40% | -0.4% | -1.2% | -1.3% | 2.0% |
| McDonald's Corp. | MCD, +0.24% | 0.2% | 0.8% | 5.2% | 3.2% |
| Travelers Companies Inc. | TRV, +0.39% | 0.4% | 2.3% | 12.7% | -11.7% |
| Coca-Cola Co. | KO, +0.92% | 0.9% | 0.0% | -3.0% | 3.2% |
| Verizon Communications Inc. | VZ, +2.52% | 2.5% | 1.1% | 6.3% | 6.2% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
Worst performing S&P 500 stocks
Among S&P 500 companies, 85% saw their shares decline on Friday. Here are the day’s 10 worst performers:
| Company | Ticker | Price change - March 22 | Price change - March 21 | Price change - 2019 | Price change - 2018 |
| SVB Financial Group | SIVB, -7.06% | -7.1% | -3.5% | 11.7% | -18.8% |
| Brighthouse Financial Inc. | BHF, -6.84% | -6.8% | 0.3% | 16.6% | -48.0% |
| United Rentals Inc. | URI, -6.80% | -6.8% | 2.5% | 8.2% | -40.4% |
| Nike Inc. Class B | NKE, -6.61% | -6.6% | 1.5% | 10.9% | 18.5% |
| Western Digital Corp. | WDC, -6.55% | -6.5% | 9.8% | 30.9% | -53.5% |
| Cintas Corp. | CTAS, -6.52% | -6.5% | 1.4% | 15.8% | 7.8% |
| Cimarex Energy Co. | XEC, -6.25% | -6.3% | 0.5% | 10.1% | -49.5% |
| Regions Financial Corp. | RF, -6.24% | -6.2% | -3.5% | 1.1% | -22.6% |
| KeyCorp | KEY, -6.09% | -6.1% | -3.6% | 1.3% | -26.7% |
| Affiliated Managers Group Inc. | AMG, -5.75% | -5.8% | -1.7% | 1.8% | -52.5% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
Big Nasdaq losers
Here are the day’s 10 worst performers among the Nasdaq-100 NDX, -2.23% :
| Company | Ticker | Price change - March 22 | Price change - March 21 | Price change - 2019 | Price change - 2018 |
| Western Digital Corp. | WDC, -6.55% | -6.5% | 9.8% | 30.9% | -53.5% |
| Cintas Corp. | CTAS, -6.52% | -6.5% | 1.4% | 15.8% | 7.8% |
| Advanced Micro Devices Inc. | AMD, -5.45% | -5.4% | 8.5% | 42.8% | 79.6% |
| Micron Technology Inc. | MU, -5.39% | -5.4% | 9.6% | 31.2% | -22.8% |
| Biogen Inc. | BIIB, -4.48% | -4.5% | -29.2% | -28.0% | -5.5% |
| Netflix Inc. | NFLX, -4.46% | -4.5% | 0.7% | 34.9% | 39.4% |
| Skyworks Solutions Inc. | SWKS, -4.04% | -4.0% | 5.3% | 23.2% | -29.4% |
| Align Technology Inc. | ALGN, -3.96% | -4.0% | 5.7% | 28.7% | -5.7% |
| NXP Semiconductors NV | NXPI, -3.85% | -3.8% | 3.6% | 23.7% | -37.4% |
| NetApp Inc. | NTAP, -3.84% | -3.8% | 2.9% | 12.0% | 7.9% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||
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