The Nasdaq, S&P 500 And Dow Took A Big Dive In April

Markets finished off the month of April down big amid a mixed first-quarter earnings season. For the month, the Nasdaq fell 15%, the S&P 500 fell 10.2% and the Dow fell 6.4%.

On Thursday, the Commerce Department reported first-quarter U.S. GDP fell 1.4%, well short of economists' expectations of 1% growth. Consumer spending was up 2.7% in the first quarter, but an 8.5% drop in defense spending and a record-high U.S. trade deficit in goods weighed on economic growth.

Twitter's TWTR stock traded higher after the company's board of directors voted to accept a $44 billion buyout offer by controversial Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Twitter shares remain well below Musk's buyout price of $54.20, and the deal must still be approved by Twitter shareholders and global regulators.

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms FB was one of the big winners of a mixed week of tech earnings, reporting a first-quarter earnings beat and a rebound in daily active users.

So far this earnings season, about 79% of S&P 500 companies have reported first-quarter earnings numbers above analyst estimates, according to FactSet.

Following the disappointing U.S. GDP estimate, Wall Street will get key economic updates on Wednesday when the Federal Reserve releases its latest interest rate decision and accompanying commentary and on Friday when the U.S. Labor Department releases its April jobs report.

• The Nasdaq composite finished lower Friday by 4.47% to 12,854; The Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ lost 4.50% to $313.25
• The S&P 500 traded lower by 3.63% to 4,131; The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY lost 3.69% to $412.00
• The Dow Jones composite finished lower by 2.86% to 11,295; The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA finished lower by 2.83% at $329.69

Here are the day's winners and losers from the Dow Jones, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

Honeywell International Inc HON and Merck & Co., Inc. MRK were the only gainers for the DIA Friday.

Intel Corporation INTC, Salesforce Inc CRM and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA were among the top losers for the Dow Jones.

Elsewhere On The Street

The SPY is off to a horrible start to 2022, down 11.7% year-to-date. However, a handful of popular stocks have severely lagged the market and generated much heavier losses for investors this year… Read More

Cathie Wood's investment strategy deserves some attention. Not because it should be modeled, but because investors can learn from the Ark Invest CEO's mistakes and hope to avoid falling into the same traps… Read More

Apple Inc AAPL reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenues. The sore spot was the warning regarding a $4 billion to $8 billion hit from supply disruptions in the third quarter… Read More

Wayne Duggan contributed to this report.