Nasdaq Falls Into Bear Market After Volatile Day
Inflation data due Thursday will show whether the Fed’s rate increases are taming consumer prices
3 min
U.S. stocks and the British pound turned lower Tuesday following Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey’s remark that the U.K. central bank’s plan to rescue pension funds hit by interest-rate increases will end as scheduled Friday.
Major U.S. stock indexes were mixed following the remarks, made at the Institute for International Finance’s annual meeting in Washington D.C., reversing a rally of about 0.8% in the S&P 500. The Dow was modestly higher and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.1%, returning the tech-heavy index to a “bear market,” or a decline of 20% or more from a recent peak.
The comments were taken as negative on Wall Street because they raise the prospect of further asset sales by U.K. pension funds in the face of large interest-rate increases.
The program of bond buys launched Sept. 28 had been intended to give the funds a “window of opportunity” to sell assets in an orderly fashion, but Mr. Bailey said that opportunity would end on Oct. 14.
Stocks had opened lower, then turned higher at midday. They reversed course in the final hour of trading after Mr. Bailey’s comments.
“You’ve got three days left,” Mr. Bailey said in remarks addressed to pension funds. “You’ve got to get this done.”
The Dow’s performance was aided by big gains in Amgen Inc. The biotech stock jumped 6%, making it the best performer in the Dow on Tuesday. Shares of biotech companies helped power the other indexes higher, too, with the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index rising more than 2% in recent trading.
Investors have been grappling throughout the year with the effects of decades-high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s attempts to tame it with higher interest rates. For many, the concerns have grown deeper in recent weeks as inflation remains stubbornly high and traders worry that the Fed will cool the economy so much that it tips into a recession.
“The question now is not if there will be a recession, it’s when and how bad,” said Justin Wiggs, managing director in equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus. One week ago, traders were cheering the biggest two-day rally in the Dow and S&P 500 in two years, but stocks have fallen steadily since then. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 remain in bear markets.
U.S. inflation data due Thursday will show whether the Fed’s sizeable interest-rate rises are working to tame soaring consumer prices. A larger-than-forecast rise could bolster expectations that Fed officials will opt for another supersize 0.75 percentage point increase at their next meeting.
Meanwhile, investors are bracing for the first wave of major corporate earnings reports due this week, which are expected to show companies struggling with high rates and weakening consumer demand. PepsiCo reports Wednesday while financial titans such as BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley report later in the week.
“First-quarter and second-quarter earnings came in remarkably well. The third quarter may be the pivot point at which we see earnings cannot keep growing to the sky, and that companies are subject to the economic headwinds we are facing from all kinds of directions,” said David Donabedian, chief investment officer at CIBC Private Wealth US.
And what’s even more important than third-quarter results, some investors say, is the guidance corporate leaders give about next year.
Some traders said Tuesday’s midday bounce higher was not so much a sign of strength, but rather a sign of so-called short covering. Some traders make money by betting that stocks are headed lower. To do so, they borrow shares and sell them, hoping to profit by buying these shares back at a lower price at a later date. When stocks start to climb, those gains can be accelerated by short sellers covering their bets by buying shares.
Yields on benchmark U.S. government bonds continued their ascent, coming within sight of the 4% level. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.938%, its second highest level of the year, from 3.883% on Friday. The U.S. bond market was closed Monday for the Columbus Day holiday.
In commodity markets, oil weakened as concerns about the economy returned to the fore. Prices rose last week after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Russia-led allies agreed to slash their output. On Tuesday, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, shed 2% to $94.29 a barrel.
Overseas indexes slumped. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 2.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 2.2% lower, hitting its lowest level in more than a decade.
In Europe, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.6%, led by losses among its oil-and-gas and chemicals companies.
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The latest trend in wellness travel is somewhere between a spa trip and a doctor’s appointment
4 min
For some vacationers, the ideal getaway involves $1,200 ozone therapy or an $1,800 early-detection cancer test.
Call it the longevity vacation. People who are fixated on optimising their personal health are pursuing travel activities that they hope will help them stay healthier for longer. It is part of a broader interest in longevity that often extends beyond traditional medicine . These costly trips and treatments are rising in popularity as money pours into the global wellness travel market.
At high-end resorts, guests can now find biological age testing, poolside vitamin IV drips, and stem-cell therapy. Prices can range from hundreds of dollars for shots and drips to tens of thousands for more invasive procedures, which go well beyond standard wellness offerings like yoga, massages or facials.
Some longevity-inspired trips focus on treatments, while others focus more on social and lifestyle changes. This includes programs that promise to teach travellers the secrets of centenarians .
Mark Blaskovich, 66 years old, spent $4,500 on a five-night trip last year centred on lessons from the world’s “Blue Zones,” places including Sardinia, Italy, and Okinawa, Japan, where a high number of people live for at least 100 years. Blaskovich says he wanted to get on a healthier path as he started to feel the effects of ageing.
He chose a retreat at Modern Elder Academy in Mexico, where he attended workshops detailing the power of supportive relationships, embracing a plant-based diet and incorporating natural movement into his daily life.
“I’ve been interested in longevity and trying to figure out how to live longer and live healthier,” says Blaskovich.
Vitamins and ozone
When Christy Menzies noticed nurses behind a curtained-off area at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Hawaii on a family vacation in 2022, she assumed it might be Covid-19 testing. They were actually injecting guests with vitamin B12.
Menzies, 40, who runs a travel agency, escaped to the longevity clinic between trips to the beach, pool and kids’ club, where she reclined in a leather chair, and received a 30-minute vitamin IV infusion.
“You’re making investments in your wellness, your health, your body,” says Menzies, who adds that she felt more energised afterward.
The resort has been expanding its offerings since opening a longevity centre in 2021. A multi-day treatment package including ozone therapy, stem-cell therapy and a “fountain of youth” infusion, costs $44,000. Roughly half a dozen guests have shelled out for that package since it made its debut last year, according to Pat Makozak, the resort’s senior spa director. Guests can also opt for an early-detection cancer blood test for $1,800.
The ozone therapy, which involves withdrawing blood, dissolving ozone gas into it, and reintroducing it into the body through an IV, is particularly popular, says Makozak. The procedure is typically administered by a registered nurse, takes upward of an hour and costs $1,200.
Longevity vacationers are helping to fuel the global wellness tourism market, which is expected to surpass $1 trillion in 2024, up from $439 billion in 2012, according to the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute. About 13% of U.S. travellers took part in spa or wellness activities while traveling in the past 12 months, according to a 2023 survey from market-research group Phocuswright.
Canyon Ranch, which has multiple wellness resorts across the country, earlier this year introduced a five-night “Longevity Life” program, starting at $6,750, that includes health-span coaching, bone-density scans and longevity-focused sessions on spirituality and nutrition.
The idea is that people will return for an evaluation regularly to monitor progress, says Mark Kovacs, the vice president of health and performance.
What doctors say
Doctors preach caution, noting many of these treatments are unlikely to have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, producing a placebo effect at best and carrying the potential for harm at worst. Procedures that involve puncturing the skin, such as ozone therapy or an IV drip, risk possible infection, contamination and drug interactions.
“Right now there isn’t a single proven treatment that would prolong the life of someone who’s already healthy,” says Dr. Mark Loafman, a family-medicine doctor in Chicago. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Some studies on certain noninvasive wellness treatments, like saunas or cold plunges , do suggest they may help people feel less stressed, or provide some temporary pain relief or sleep improvement.
Linda True, a policy analyst in San Francisco, spent a day at RAKxa, a wellness retreat on a visit to family in Thailand in February. True, 46, declined the more medical-sounding offerings, like an IV drip, and opted for a traditional style of Thai massage that involved fire and is touted as a “detoxification therapy.”
“People want to spend money on things that they feel might be doing good,” says Dr. Tamsin Lewis, medical adviser at RoseBar Longevity at Six Senses Ibiza, a longevity club that opened last year, whose menu includes offerings such as cryotherapy, infrared sauna and a “Longevity Boost” IV.
RoseBar says there is good evidence that reducing stress contributes to longevity, and Lewis says she doesn’t offer false promises about treatments’ efficacy . Kovacs says Canyon Ranch uses the latest science and personal data to help make evidence-based recommendations.
Jaclyn Sienna India owns a membership-based, ultra luxury travel company that serves people whose net worth exceeds $100 million, many of whom give priority to longevity, she says. She has planned trips for clients to Blue Zones, where there are a large number of centenarians. On one in February, her company arranged a $250,000 weeklong stay for a family of three to Okinawa that included daily meditation, therapeutic massages and cooking classes, she says.
India says keeping up with a longevity-focused lifestyle requires more than one treatment and is cost-prohibitive for most people.
Doctors say travellers may be more likely to glean health benefits from focusing on a common vacation goal : just relaxing.
Dr. Karen Studer, a physician and assistant professor of preventive medicine at Loma Linda University Health says lowering your stress levels is linked to myriad short- and long-term health benefits.
“It may be what you’re getting from these expensive treatments is just a natural effect of going on vacation, decreasing stress, eating better and exercising more.”
Consumers are going to gravitate toward applications powered by the buzzy new technology, analyst Michael Wolf predicts
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