It was a classic case of fence sitting as the Dow dropped over a hundred points at open to slowly regain ground throughout the session as investors pondered the trade war, next week’s Fed meeting, and reports showing the worst slowdown in China’s growth in 17 years.  All of it put the market on “pins and needles” awaiting hopeful rate cuts, in fact hopeful for three rates this year. The one positive is that retail sales have increased indicating that consumer spending is picking up so Q2 may not have the feared sharp contraction after all.  Nonetheless, it’s “wait-and-see” as reflected in the considerably below average volume of under 5.9 billion. 

fri  JUNE 14, 2019 / 5:25 pm 

Wall Street ends down; Broadcom warning hits chip stocks

Caroline Valetkevitch

DJ:   26,089.61  -17.16       NAS:  7,796.66  -40.47          S&P:  2,886.98  -4.66        6/14

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as investors were cautious going into next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, while a warning from Broadcom of a broad weakening in global demand weighed on chipmakers and added to U.S.-China trade worries.  Shares of Broadcom Inc fell 5.6% after it cut its full-year revenue forecast by $2 billion, blaming the U.S.-China trade conflict and export curbs on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.  Other chip companies, which both source product and sell heavily in China, dropped sharply. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index tumbled 2.6%.

Investors are bracing for next week’s Fed meeting in light of recent market expectations that the U.S. central bank could cut interest rates as much as three times this year.  Some strategists say stocks are primed for a selloff should the Fed fail to take an even more dovish tilt.  The S&P 500 index has so far gained 4.9% in June and registered a second straight week of gains on Friday, largely on the rate cut hopes.

“We’re going to be on pins and needles until we get some indication from the Fed,” said Brian Battle, director of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners in Chicago.  “That’s what matters. Everybody is betting that the Fed is going to cut rates, probably not in June but soon. That is a very crowded trade.”

The ongoing trade battle between the United States and China also gives investors reason to play it safe ahead of the weekend.  “This is kind of a wait-and-see mode. People are staying very close to their benchmarks,” said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Austin, Texas.  The Group of 20 summit at the end of the month may yield progress on a deal.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.16 points, or 0.07%, to 26,089.61, the S&P 500 lost 4.66 points, or 0.16%, to 2,886.98 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 40.47 points, or 0.52%, to 7,796.66.  All three major indexes posted gains for the week: the Dow rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 gained 0.5% and the Nasdaq added 0.7%.

During the session, shares of Apple Inc slipped 0.7%, with Broadcom a major supplier to the iPhone maker.  Adding to global demand worries, Chinese data pointed to the worst slowdown in industrial growth in 17 years. China’s industrial output growth in May slowed below expectations and showed signs of weakening demand.   In a bright spot, data showed U.S. retail sales increased in May and sales for the prior month were revised higher, suggesting a pick-up in consumer spending that could ease fears the economy was slowing down sharply in the second quarter.

Online pet products retailer Chewy Inc ended up 59% in its market debut, joining a host of high-profile names, such as Lyft Inc and Uber Technologies Inc, that listed on U.S. stock exchanges this year. 

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.53-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.79-to-1 ratio favored decliners.  The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 82 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 5.85 billion shares, compared to the 6.83 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.