NEW YORK (AP) — Stock investors were hit from all sides in January.
Concerns
about the global economy and U.S. company earnings, as well as turmoil
in emerging markets, led the Dow Jones industrial average to its worst
start since 2009. However, many investors remain hopeful that the
problems will not spill over into the rest of 2014.
They even see the downturn as healthy, given the U.S. market’s rapid rise last year.
The
Dow slid 5.3 percent in January while the Standard & Poor’s 500
index fell 3.6 percent and the Nasdaq composite declined 1.7 percent.
Investors
entered the year with some degree of skepticism and nervousness.
The
stock market went basically straight up in 2013. The S&P 500 index
ended 2013 with a gain of nearly 30 percent, its best year since 1997.
"No
amount of negative news could derail the market last year," said
Jonathan Corpina, a floor trader at the New York Stock Exchange with
Meridian Equity Partners.
But no stock market can go straight up forever.
Many
investors expected 2014 to be a more muddled and volatile year for the
market. Market strategists late last year were looking for the S&P
500 index to notch a modest gain of 4 percent to 6 percent, ending in
the range of 1,850 to 1,900.
Investors were also looking for more
pullbacks this year and possibly a correction, the technical term for
when a stock market index like the S&P 500 falls 10 percent or more.
Three months ago, analysts at Goldman Sachs said there was roughly a 60
percent chance that a correction would happen this year.
"People
did look at these stock market valuations at the beginning of the year
with a degree of nervousness," said David Kelly, chief market strategist
with J.P. Morgan Funds. "A correction would probably be healthy for the
market."
But many investors were surprised by January’s
turbulence. With one exception, the Dow had triple-digit moves every
trading day in January.
Still, with the broader S&P 500 index down just 3.6 percent from its January 15 peak, the
downturn is hardly severe.
"There’s
been some negative news out there — the economic data, corporate
earnings and what’s now going on in emerging markets — but I’m not
convinced the headlines are bad enough to be a catalyst to push us into a
correction," Corpina said.
Investors point to the December jobs
report, released on Jan. 10, as the event that started the troubles. The
U.S. government said employers created only 74,000 jobs in December,
the worst month for job creation in since 2011 and far below
expectations.
Up until then, weeks of data showed the U.S.
economic recovery was accelerating. U.S. companies were selling record
levels of goods overseas; layoffs had dwindled; and the Federal Reserve
was pulling back on its economic stimulus program, citing an improving
economy.
Many investors called the December jobs report as a
statistical fluke. But the report has weighed on stocks all month,
investors say.
"It set a negative tone for the market," Kelly said.
Other economic reports also painted a picture of U.S. economic growth possibly flattening out instead of
accelerating.
Investors combined these economic worries with mixed signals from U.S. companies.
Wall
Street is in the middle of earnings season, when the country’s major
corporations report results for the final three months of the year. Half
of the members of the S&P 500 have reported, and the results have
been mixed. While fourth-quarter corporate earnings are up a respectable
7.9 percent from a year earlier, companies have been cutting their
full-year outlooks and reporting weaker sales, according to data
provider FactSet.
Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, said
Friday that earnings may come in at the low end or below its prior
forecasts. It also expects sales at stores open at least a year to be
flat. The company previously forecast that sales would be modestly
higher.
Wal-Mart’s forecast echo the comments from Macy’s, Target, Best Buy and other retailers.
Of
the companies who have reported so far, 44 companies have cut their
full-year profit outlooks while 10 have increased their outlooks,
according to data from FactSet.
Adding to concerns about the U.S. economy and earnings were problems in overseas markets.
The
bad news started with China. A recent report showed manufacturing
activity in the world’s second-largest economy unexpectedly contracted
in January. The report added to other recent signs that the Chinese
economy was slowing down after years of massive growth.
Then came currency troubles in smaller emerging markets, particularly Turkey, South Africa and Argentina.

All
three saw their currencies fall sharply against the dollar, as
investors began to pull out of emerging markets and return their money
to less-risky parts of the globe.
"These governments were
financing themselves with (foreign investor money), and now that these
investors are looking to go home, there’s no source of money to replace
them," said Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at Oppenheimer
Funds.
On Friday, the U.S. stock market closed out January on
another down note. The Dow fell 149.76 points, or 0.9 percent, to
15,698.85. The S&P 500 dropped 11.60 points, or 0.7 percent, to
1,782.59 and the Nasdaq lost 19.25 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,103.88.
Investors shouldn’t panic yet, money managers say.
They will get the January jobs report next week. Also, another 93 members of the S&P 500 are
scheduled to report earnings.
"A
5 percent decline in equities is not an earthshattering event by any
measure, particularly after last year," Memani said. "It’s still way too
early to give up on equities."
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AP Business Writer Alex Veiga contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
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