US equity close: S&P 500 virtually erases the year-to-date gains | Forexlive

US equities were hit hard today and the S&P 500 virtually erased its gains for the year in the second day of selling. Stocks tried to rally early on a higher US unemployment rate but worries about banks led to heavy selling in the latter half of the day as Silicon Valley Bank was taken over by the FDIC.

There was a big divergence in US indexes as the Russell 2000 was clobbered by heavy exposure to regional banks:

Daily changes:

• S&P 500 -1.45%
• Nasdaq Comp -1.7%
• DJIA -1.1%
• Russell 2000 -3.0%
• Toronto TSX -1.6%

Weekly changes:

• S&P 500 -4.5%
• Nasdaq Comp -4.7%
• DJIA -4.4%
• Russell 2000 -8.1%
• Toronto TSX -3.9%

The weekly chart of the S&P 500 still doesn’t look too bad but it will need to hold the late-December lows. Tuesday’s CPI report will go a long way towards determining which way it breaks.

• S&P 500 -1.1%
• Nasdaq Comp -2.4%
• Russell 2000 -3.4%
• Toronto TSX -0.7