The Dow breached the 30,000 mark for the first time since mid-December
It appears the drama surrounding the Reddit-fueled speculative trading frenzy is far from over, and anxieties surrounding the sudden phenomena put a major damper on stocks during Friday's session. In fact, the Dow dipped back below the psychologically significant 30,000 mark for the first time since mid-December, finishing the session with a 620-point drop. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also suffered sizeable Friday pullbacks, while all three major indexes notched their worst weekly loss since October. For the month, the Nasdaq was the only index of the three, to mark a win.
While Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) lukewarm vaccine results also put a damper on markets today, the majority of Wall Street's attention was focused on Robinhood. The online brokerage firm made the decision to limit buying on heavily shorted stocks, such as GameStop (GME), after one day earlier making the highly criticized decision to restrict trading. The mania surrounding these stocks is causing many to fear a potential bubble, while others are brushing off the wild trading as a short-term ripple through the market. Nonetheless, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it would look into this week's chaotic trading and decide if Robinhood's decision was disadvantageous to investors.
Continue reading for more on today's market, including:
- 2 alternative energy stocks to watch right now.
- Biogen's FDA update brought plenty of option traders to the table.
- Plus, behind one blue-chip's Q4 earnings beat; the tech stock that tripled in the past year; and the semiconductor stock with big potential
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 32,982.62) lost 620.7 points, or 2% for the day. Dow (DOW) was the biggest loser with a 4.6% drop, while McDonald's (MCD), the only gainer, added 0.5%. The blue-chip index dropped 3.2% for the week, and 2% for the month.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 3,714.24) settled 73.1 points, or 1.9% lower. For the final week of January, the index suffered a 3.3% drop, and a 1.1% monthly loss. while the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC - 13,070.70) shed 266.5 points, or 2%. It dropped 3.5% for the week, added 1.4% for the month.
Lastly, the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX - 33.09) added 2.9 points, or 9.5% for the day. The index added 51% for the week and 45.5% for the month, marking its biggest weekly and monthly pop since February.


- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced that New York City restaurants will be allowed to reopen their indoor dining rooms at limited capacity on Valentines Day, as long as Covid-19 cases continue to stabilize. (CNBC)
- Facebook (FB) is moving closer to an antitrust lawsuit against fellow tech giant Apple (AAPL), concerning several new privacy features that are due out this spring, which would severely hinder the social media name's online advertising reach. (MarketWatch)
- A look at Caterpillar's fourth-quarter beat.
- We broke down how NTGR's stock price tripled in less than a year.
- This chip stock could be a big outperformer in 2021.


Gold Snaps Skid, Oil Nabs Sizable Monthly Gain
Some investors turned back to gold today, as speculative trading stoked anxieties, leading the commodity to snap its six-day losing streak. For the month, however, gold prices dropped 2.4%, and 0.5%, for the week. On the day, February-dated gold added $9.10, or 0.5%, to finish at $1,850.30 per ounce.
Oil prices dropped for the day as energy demand concerns continue to bubble up. For the month, however, black gold saw a 7.6% win, bolstered by production cuts in Saudi Arabia. For the day, March-dated crude shed 14 cents, or 0.3% to settle at $52.20 per barrel. For the week, crude fell 0.1%.