Stocks on Wall Street fell from their gains on Friday, despite the U.S. House of Representatives passing the anticipated $2 trillion economic relief package the Senate passed on Thursday. Even with the positivity the bill's passages brought to investors, many were not able to shake off the early morning report that consumer sentiment had fallen the most since the 2008 financial criss in March. However, the gains made during the week set the Dow Jones Industrial Average to record that best weekly gain since 1938; the Dow gained 12.8%. The S&P 500 Index was not far behind, with a weekly gain of 10.3%.
Here's how the market closed for the week:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -3.37% or -88.6 points to 2,541.47
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -4.06% or -915.39 points to 21,636.78
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -3.79% or -295.16 points to 7,502.38
In Major Stock News, shares of the restaurant chain Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ: CAKE) dropped after the company announced its would let go 41,000 hourly works and cut pay for executives. Cheesecake Factory had already announced this week that it will not be able to pay rent for the next month due to the coronavirus outbreak. Shares of Hertz (NYSE: HTZ) fell after a Bloomberg report found that the company has been talking to banks to raise cash to help offload the impact the coronavirus has had on the company. United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) and Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) were approved by the U.S. Justice Department to merge on Friday, though both stocks dropped after the announcement. Shares of oil exploration and production stocks--Apache (NYSE: APA), Devon Energy (NYSE: DVN) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL)--have all fallen Friday as domestic crude prices continue to drop.
In Stock Sector News, every sector besides Utilities, who rose +0.52%, saw major performance losses during Friday's sell off. The sector declines were as follows: Energy -6.93%, Information Technology -4.61%, Industrials -4.33%, Communication Services -4.09%, Materials -3.81%, Consumer Discretionary -3.37%, Financials -3.31%, Health Care -2.41%, Consumer Staples -0.72% and Real Estate -0.07%.
Lastly, in Commodity and Currency News, crude oil prices posted their fifth straight week of losses on Friday. West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) dropped almost -6% on Friday and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) slid even more by -7%, bringing barrel prices to a new low of $21-$25 each. Gold (NYSE: GLD) also fell during Friday's sell-off, with the metal's ounce price declining -0.18% to cost about $1,629. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) continues to drop as the week closes, with the DXY Index sliding -1.15%.