S&P 500 marks steepest first-half slide since 1970

STORY: The S&P 500 closed out the worst first half of the year in more than half a century on Thursday.

The Dow suffered its worst first-half since 1962 and the Nasdaq notched its largest first-half percentage drop ever, as all three major indexes finished the month and the second quarter in negative territory.

For the session, the Dow and S&P each fell more than eight tenths of a percent, while the Nasdaq dropped a percent and a third.

All three indexes posted their second straight quarterly declines.

And Matt Stucky, senior portfolio manager of equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co, said personal consumption expenditures data released on Thursday did little to inspire investor confidence.

"There's clear evidence that we're seeing demand destruction, in terms of the report we saw this morning, in terms of PCE spending by consumers, you know, wages just simply aren't keeping up with inflation. And so that causes demand destruction as consumers prioritize household necessities over discretionary items. And so, you know, how long this continues causes a lot of uncertainty. And when uncertainty rises, you know, riskier assets like equities tend to, you know, tend to sell off."

While energy stocks sank with the rest of the market Thursday, energy was the only major sector to post a first-half gain, aided by spiking oil prices.

The worst-performing sector this year is consumer discretionary, which counts Amazon and Tesla as members.

Other megacap growth stocks, which took a beating in the first half of 2022, all lost ground Thursday.

Among them, Facebook-owner Meta Platforms, shares of which have fallen more than 50% year-to-date, said it's bracing for a leaner second half of the year, saying in an internal memo seen by Reuters on Thursday that it's "in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce."