What’s News in Markets: Bearish Bets, Defiant Oil Prices, a Social Media Reckoning

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0:37Until then, here's the news moving markets this week. Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, March 28th. I'm Imani Moise for The Wall Street Journal. And this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's dive in. Markets are sliding and some people are scared. Investors piled into options contracts that bet against the S &P 500. And retail traders are getting more timid. Their activity is on track to reach the lowest level in two years. Plus, is big tech having its big tobacco moment? Before we get into that, let's see how the major indexes did.

1:16The Nasdaq entered correction territory on Thursday, falling 10 percent from its most recent high and finished the week down more than 3 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average followed, crossing the correction threshold on Friday, closing 1.4 % lower. The benchmark S &P 500 ended 2 % lower, extending its longest weekly losing streak in nearly four years. What's interesting is that many of the companies dragging markets lower recently were the same stocks that led them to historic highs last year. Now let's walk through the winners and losers of this week's Topsy Turvy Market.

1:54It was a rough week to be a social media executive. Tech stocks, which include names like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta and Google and YouTube parent Alphabet, led the S &P lower this week after back-to-back landmark legal rulings that could force the Silicon Valley giants to change their business practices. On Tuesday, a New Mexico jury handed Metta a massive$375 million bill for failing to protect kids from what the state called a predatory environment that exposed minors to everything from sexually explicit content to human trafficking. Then, on Wednesday, a California jury found Metta and YouTube responsible for designing products that were effectively addictive to minors.

2:36They awarded$6 million to a 20-year-old plaintiff who testified that scrolling dominated her life and shredded her mental health. Though the monetary penalties are a small drop in the bucket for companies that raked in more than$500 billion combined last year, legal analysts say the rulings posed an existential threat to the companies that have built businesses around keeping users on their apps. Some have dubbed the event's big tech's big tobacco moment. Meta and Google have each said they plan to appeal. Both stocks ended the week lower. Meadow was down 11 percent and Alphabet fell about 9 percent.

3:16Alphabet's legal news almost overshadowed its product launch that shook the ground under chip stocks. Google announced a new algorithm on Wednesday that can shrink the memory needed to run AI models by at least six times without losing accuracy. That news sent chipmaker stocks into freefall with Micron plunging 15.5 percent. and Sandisk shares sliding 13%.

3:43If you filled up your tank recently, you can probably guess which sector is the week's biggest winner. That's right, energy. Benchmark oil prices hovered around$113 a barrel and are up 85 % so far this year after the war in Iran jammed up the waterway responsible for transporting 20 % of the global oil supply. President Trump has tried to soothe the market with social media posts promising a swift end to the war, but futures contracts suggest traders believe we still have a long way to go. Shares in ExxonMobil ended the week up 7%, while oil giants ConocoPhillips and Chevron closed up about 5%.

4:19While wartime is usually a pretty good time for energy stocks, their gains typically coincide with broader pain. This week, the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to its lowest reading of the year as higher gas prices cut into household budgets. That could weigh on consumer discretionary stocks going forward. Professional investors are becoming more pessimistic, too. Today, the market sees an absolutely 0 % chance of an interest rate cut this year, compared with up to three cuts the market was betting on just a month ago. And now you know what's news in markets this week.

4:51You can read more about the stocks that moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on wsj.com. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansy and Michael LaValle. with supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm Imani Moise. Have a great weekend and catch you next Saturday.

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