Stocks hit a rut this week after coming out of the gates strong in 2018.
The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite are on track to post their biggest weekly losses since early 2016. Both the Dow and S&P 500 are down 2.7 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq has lost 2.6 percent.
Back in 2016, the Dow lost 6.2 percent in the week of Jan. 8, while the S&P 500 dropped 3.1 percent and the Nasdaq pulled back 2.8 percent the week of Feb. 5.
The major indexes were also on track to snap four-week winning streaks. Stocks kicked off the year trading sharply higher, as investors cheered strong global economic growth and better-than-expected corporate earnings.
But Wall Street grew jittery this week as concerns of rising inflation sent interest rates higher. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hit its highest level in four years on Friday.
Chevron is the worst-performing Dow stock this week, falling 7.8 percent. The energy giant reported earnings that appeared to miss analyst expectations. But the company included a $2 billion tax benefit, which made the profit number difficult to compare with analyst estimates.
DowDuPont, meanwhile, is second-biggest decliner on the 30-stock index this week, dropping 6.5 percent. The company reported better-than-expected earnings earlier this week, but analysts at Nomura Instinet noted that guidance for first-quarter 2018 appeared to be light.
UnitedHealth also took a hit after Amazon, J.P. Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway announced plans to try and cut health care costs. Shares of the health insurance giant are down 5.9 percent this week.
In the S&P 500, Chesapeake Energy is by far the biggest laggard for the week, sliding 16.4 percent. On Tuesday, the company said in a memo it will lay off about 400 employees, or 13 percent of its workforce.
MetLife is also one of the worst-performing S&P 500 stocks this week. On Tuesday, MetLife postponed its fourth-quarter earnings release. The company’s stock is down more than 12 percent for the week.
UPS, Tractor Supply and Harley-Davidson are also down around 12 percent for the week, rounding out the five worst S&P 500 performers for the week.
—CNBC’s Gina Francolla contributed to this report.
