Dow Dips as UnitedHealth Falls, Nasdaq and S&P 500 End Week Lower

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US stocks showed mixed results on Thursday, finishing another down week as investors watched potential progress in trade negotiations while President Trump criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell after his grim assessment of the economy under tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dropped 1.3%, losing over 500 points, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) saw a slight increase of 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) declined by 0.1%, following Wednesday's tech-driven sell-off. UnitedHealth (UNH) saw a sharp decline of more than 22%, pulling the Dow lower, after the health insurer reduced its full-year profit forecast. As the largest component in the Dow, this had a significant impact.

Thursday marked the final day of trading for the week, with US markets closed on Good Friday. All three major indices ended the week in the red, with the Nasdaq and Dow each dropping over 2.5%. The S&P 500 was down approximately 1.5%.

Trump's ongoing conflict with the Fed chair, whom he appointed, resurfaced as the president remarked on Thursday that Powell’s "termination cannot come fast enough" and hinted at replacing him. His comments followed Powell’s stark warning in Chicago, where the Fed chair stated that the central bank would likely face a "challenging scenario" as tariffs are expected to worsen inflation and slow economic growth.

Paraphrasing text from "Yahoo!Finance" all rights reserved by the original author