The Dow is down more than 500 points since the S&P 500, the Nasdaq topped the worst month of March 2020.

Shares in the US fell sharply on Friday afternoon as investors weighed new data on inflation, while technology-related stocks suffered after disappointing results from Amazon.com Inc. and a warning about rising costs from Apple Inc.

How are stock indices presented?

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.03%, fell nearly 515 points, or 1.5%, to about 33,402.

• The S&P 500 SPX, -2.92%, fell 95 points, or 2.2%, to 4,192.

• Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.40% fell nearly 334 points, or 2.6%, to about 12,538.

On Thursday, the Dow rose 614.46 points, or 1.9 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 2.5 percent and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.1 percent. The Dow and S&P 500 recorded their best daily percentage gains since March 9, while the Nasdaq recorded its best day since March 16, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

For the week, the Dow is on the verge of falling by 1.2%, while the S&P 500 is heading for a decline of 1.9%, and the tech Nasdaq is on the verge of falling by 2.4%, according to data from FactSet in a recent inspection.

What drives the markets?

US stocks fell sharply on Friday, with technology stocks weighing on indices.

“Technology is having a hard day” with the fall of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, pulling down stock market figures, said Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at wealth manager Glenmede, in a telephone interview Friday.

Shares of Amazon AMZN fell more than 13% early Friday afternoon after reporting its first loss in seven years. The company’s weakness made it the biggest loser in the S&P 500 index in the afternoon trading, according to FactSet, in a recent inspection.

All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 are declining, with consumer discretion SP500.25, -5.64%, real estate SP500.6010, -3.27% and information technology SP500.45, -2.87% showing the biggest losses, according to FactSet data. Shares of Apple Inc. AAPL, -2.56% fell 2.2% after the technology giant surpassed profits and set a revenue record, but warned of billions in additional costs from supply chain problems.

Friday marks the last day of trading in April, targeting the worst month for the S&P 500 – down 5.3% to Thursday – from March 2020. The Nasdaq was already down 9.4% by Thursday and is also facing facing its worst monthly return since the pandemic was low, according to FactSet.

The month was engulfed in worries on several fronts, including economic growth in China, where COVID-19 cases call for blockades in several cities, as well as supply chain disruptions caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“There are a lot of things the market is struggling with right now,” Reynolds said.

The CBOE VIX volatility index, + 6.27%, traded around 31 on Friday afternoon, well above the 200-day moving average of around 21.5, according to FactSet.

The petrified tail chase we saw this week as stock markets swayed from “we’re all doomed, get me out” to “I don’t want to miss the absolute bottom of the stock market, get me in” is perhaps indicative of the state of confusion there, “said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, in a note to customers.

After weak data on US economic growth in the first quarter on Thursday, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator – the main index of personal consumer spending in March – rose 0.3% with the main index up 0.9%.

“The slowdown in core PCE inflation from the previous year is really nice to see. Inflation may have peaked in March, although the evidence is still a bit ambiguous, “said Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank.

See: US inflation rises to 6.6% based on PCE index – but has silver lining

In addition to inflation concerns, the US employment spending index accelerated to 1.4% in the first quarter, from 1.0% in the last three months of 2021, according to data released by the Department of Labor on Friday.

Meanwhile, the final report on consumer sentiment at the University of Michigan in April fell to 65.2 from the original of 65.7, but still marked the first increase so far this year.

Friday’s economic data comes ahead of next week’s two-day Federal Reserve meeting, which many expect to end with a 50-point increase in interest rates.

See: The Fed’s interest rate increase by half a percentage point next week is baked in the cake

Also, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and his right-hand man Charlie Munger will be on Saturday when investors return to Omaha for Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BRK.A, -2.00% BRKB, -1.70% annual meeting. The event, called “Woodstock for Capitalists”, has been held for almost the last two years due to COVID-19.

Don’t miss: 6 things to watch while Warren Buffett hosts Woodstock for Capitalists on Saturday

Which companies are in focus?

• Intel Corp. INTC, -6.48% shares fell 5.9% after the chipmaker stuck to its full-year outlook amid expected weakness this quarter.

• Roku Inc. ROKU, + 2.35% shares rose 4.9% after the digital media maker said it forecast better fiscal revenues and profits for the first quarter, largely in line with forecasts.

• Robinhood Markets Inc. shares of HOOD, -1.19% fell 0.5% after the brokerage company missed forecasts for the first quarter and said fewer people traded on its online platform.

• Shares of Tesla Inc. TSLA, + 0.17% increased by 2.7%. CEO Elon Musk tweeted late Thursday that he had no plans to sell more shares after a Securities and Exchange Commission document revealed he had sold nearly $ 4 billion in shares to the electric car maker amid his deal for 44 billion dollars for Twitter.

• The shares of Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL, -4.78%, fell 4.8% after the consumer goods producer said the difficult cost environment continued to affect profits.

• The shares of Chevron Corp. CVX fell 2.5% after revenue rose from previous expectations of rising oil and gas prices, but rising profits did not live up to expectations. Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM missed the first-quarter profit forecast as it recorded a $ 3.4 billion fee related to its planned exit from Russia’s Sakhalin-1 project. Exxon shares fell 1.1%.

• The shares of Honeywell International Inc. of HON rose 3.4% after profits and revenues exceeded expectations, and the aerospace and construction products company raised its outlook.

• Shares of AbbVie Inc. on ABBV fell 8.1% after the drugmaker’s revenue did not meet Wall Street expectations. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY told investors to expect less revenue from the cancer drug Revlimid and lower adjusted earnings per share for the full year in 2022. Shares fell 2.6%.

How are other assets doing?

• The yield on 10-year government securities TMUBMUSD10Y, 2.884% rose by about 4 basis points to 2.9% after the latest inflation data. Yields and debt prices are moving against each other.

• Oil futures rose US benchmark CL.1, -0.38% up 0.4% to about $ 105.80 a barrel. Gold for delivery in June GCM22, + 1.11% GC00, + 1.11% rose 1.1% to $ 1912.20 per ounce.

• Bitcoin BTCUSD, -3.78% fell 3.6% to $ 38,507.

• Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, + 0.74% closed up 0.7% on Friday, while London’s FTSE 100 UKX, + 0.47% rose 0.5%.

• Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, + 2.41% closed 2.4% higher on Friday, while the Hang Seng Index HSI, + 4.01% in Hong Kong, jumped 4%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK, + 1.75%, was closed for a national holiday.

“Barbara Colmeier contributed to this report.”