Morgans AM: Friday, 13 May 2022

US equity markets logged modest losses, recovering their worst levels of the session as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was voted in by Congress to serve a second term of four years - Dow down -104-points or -0.33%, settling ~500-points off its session lows but extending losses into a sixth straight session. The broader S&P500 slipped -0.13% to 3,930.08, trading precariously close to official bear market territory at its session lows (3,858.87). Utilities (down -1.16%) and Information Technology (-1.14%) fell over >1% to lead five of the eleven primary sectors lower. More defensive sectors outperformed, with Healthcare up +0.92%, Consumer Discretionary +0.79% and Real Estate +0.74%. The index logged its lowest settlement since 25 March, 2021, and 18.1% below its record close from early January. A close below <3,837.25 would mark a 20% fall, meeting the widely used technical definition of a bear market. The S&P 500 entered correction territory - a fall of 10% from a recent peak - last month, its second such foray this year. Based on figures going back to 1929, the average bear market sees a peak to bear-market low decline of 33.5%, and a median fall of 33.2%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. On average, it has taken 80 trading days for the S&P 500 to hit its low after entering a bear market - and a median 52 trading days, the data showed. The Nasdaq inched +0.06% higher. Twitter Inc fell -2.19% after the company said two executives, general managers for revenue and consumer, are leaving the company ahead of Tesla Inc (%) Chief Executive Elon Musk’s takeover of the social-media giant. The small capitalisation Russell 2000 rebounded +1.24%.