Nasdaq continues fall as tech-heavy index heads for worst week since 2020

Wall Street’s main indexes fell on Friday, with the Nasdaq set for its fourth straight day of declines after a weak forecast from Netflix sent its shares along with other streaming companies spiralling lower.

Netflix plunged 21.6 per cent after missing market forecast for new subscribers at the end of last year and a downbeat outlook for early 2022.

Other technology and media companies including Walt Disney, ViacomCBS and Roku that have invested heavily in streaming also fell between 4.7 per cent and 5.0 per cent.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors fell, with communication services down 2.1 per cent at an eight-month low.

Analysts on Thursday raised doubts about business prospects of pandemic market favourites including Netflix and Peloton Interactive.

However, shares of Peloton bounced from the previous day’s fall, jumping 11.5 per cent after its chief executive denied a report that the exercise bike maker was halting some production and raised second-quarter revenue forecast.

“The pandemic winners are under pressure and that will likely continue. If everybody already has Netflix, it’s hard to improve subscriber growth,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer for Comerica Wealth Management in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“Perhaps investors’ expectations were a little stretched.”

Megacap growth companies such as Microsoft, Tesla and Apple are scheduled to report their results next week.