Deep Dive: Only 5 stocks in the S&P 500 ended in positive territory after Powell’s hawkish inflation speech

United States

It took only a 10-minute speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday to clarify that monetary policy would be relentlessly tightened in the months ahead. Investors dumped stocks, sending the S&P 500 Index down 3.4% following two days of gains.

Only five stocks in the S&P 500 SPX, -3.37% were up on Friday:

Company Ticker Price change – Aug. 26 Price change – 2022 Decline from 52-week intraday high Date of 52-week intraday high
Electronic Arts Inc. EA, +3.57% 3.57% 0.2% -10.6% 09/02/2021
Molina Healthcare Inc. MOH, +3.36% 3.36% 6.4% -6.3% 08/26/2022
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. TTWO, +1.59% 1.59% -28.3% -34.9% 11/05/2021
CF Industries Holdings Inc. CF, +0.81% 0.81% 67.2% -1.0% 08/26/2022
ConocoPhillips COP, +0.04% 0.04% 55.3% -9.6% 06/08/2022
Source: FactSet

In his speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium Friday morning, Powell said the Federal Reserve’s actions to control inflation would bring “some pain to households and businesses.”

He also addressed speculation that indications of a softening of price increases in July might cause the Fed to slow its pace for interest-rate increases by saying he still saw “strong underlying momentum” in the U.S. economy.

Read: The Fed isn’t pivoting. Why were stock investors the last to know?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -3.03% fell 3% to close at 32,283. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -3.94% slumped 3.9% to 12,142.

Among the S&P 500, 43% of stocks were down at least 4% on Friday. Here are the day’s 10 worst performers, which lopped off a combined $ 63.8 billion in market capitalization for the session:

Company Ticker Price change – Aug. 26 Change  in market cap – Aug. 26 ($ mil) Price change – 2022 Decline from 52-week intraday high Date of 52-week intraday high
3M Co. MMM, -9.54% -9.5% -$ 7,758 -27.3% -34.5% 08/30/2021
Nvidia Corp. NVDA, -9.23% -9.2% -$ 41,325 -44.7% -53.1% 11/22/2021
HP Inc. HPQ, -8.94% -8.9% -$ 3,185 -16.7% -24.3% 04/07/2022
Align Technology Inc. ALGN, -7.52% -7.5% -$ 1,604 -61.6% -65.8% 09/23/2021
Monolithic Power Systems Inc. -7.3% -$ 1,769 -3.4% -17.8% 11/22/2021
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. HPE, -7.22% -7.2% -$ 1,390 -12.7% -22.5% 02/10/2022
Dollar Tree Inc. DLTR, -6.92% -6.9% -$ 2,315 -1.3% -21.7% 04/21/2022
ON Semiconductor Corp. ON, -6.69% -6.7% -$ 2,223 5.4% -6.8% 08/25/2022
Zebra Technologies Corp. Class A ZBRA, -6.66% -6.7% -$ 1,138 -48.2% -49.9% 12/10/2021
V.F. Corp. VFC, -6.56% -6.6% -$ 1,123 -43.8% -47.8% 11/16/2021
Source: FactSet

Click on the tickers for more about each company, including news that drove prices lower on Friday. Then read Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on MarketWatch quote pages.

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Hear from Ray Dalio at MarketWatch’s Best New Ideas in Money Festival on Sept. 21 and 22 in New York. The hedge-fund pioneer has strong views on where the economy is headed.