The Nasdaq Composite ended the week of October 12 to 16 down 1,226.14 points, a 4.5 percent loss, after closing Friday at 26,140.03. The Associated Press tally of the week said both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had their worst week since June.
The details come from the AP’s closing table for Friday, October 16, as published by La Nacion. On Friday alone the Nasdaq fell 572.99 points, or 2.1 percent.
A swing in index points reaches households only if they own stock. The Fed’s 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances found that 56 percent of families held stock, directly or through funds, down from 58 percent in 2022. Among families that hold stock, the median holding rose 36 percent, from $56,900 to $77,400, after adjusting for inflation.
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Four indexes, four different weeks
The S&P 500 closed at 7,659.44. It lost 84.62 points, or 1.1 percent, on Friday and 152.10 points, or 1.9 percent, over the week. The Russell 2000, an index of smaller companies, finished at 2,721.37 after a 45.90-point, 1.7 percent drop on Friday. Over the week it lost 85.61 points, or 3 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average went the other way for the week. It fell 175.28 points, or 0.3 percent, on Friday to 52,002.41, but it still gained 347.46 points, or 0.7 percent, from the previous Friday. So the week was not a broad sell-off. The damage landed on the technology-heavy Nasdaq, the S&P 500 and small companies, while the Dow’s 30 large stocks held a gain.
Working backward from the AP’s figures, the Nasdaq began the week near 27,366, a number calculated by adding the week’s 1,226.14-point loss to Friday’s close. Even after the slide, the AP shows the index up 2,898.04 points, or 12.5 percent, for 2026.
Where the year stands after the drop
The yearly numbers soften the week. The S&P 500 is up 813.94 points, or 11.9 percent, since the start of 2026, according to the same table. The Dow is up 3,939.12 points, or 8.2 percent. The Russell 2000 is up 239.46 points, or 9.6 percent. The Nasdaq’s 12.5 percent gain is still the largest of the four.
That matters for anyone judging a bad week. A drop of 4.5 percent in five trading days is large. Measured against the index’s level a week earlier, the week’s loss wiped out roughly 30 percent of the year’s point gain to that date, a share calculated from the AP’s figures. The index remains well above where 2026 began.
What else happened that week
The week also brought a fresh read on prices. The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on October 14 that the consumer price index rose 0.6 percent in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, after a 0.4 percent rise in August, and 3.7 percent over the last 12 months before seasonal adjustment. Gasoline rose 9.1 percent in the month and accounted for more than half of the monthly increase. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.3 percent in the month and 2.6 percent over the year.
The AP table does not say what drove Friday’s decline or the week’s, and this report does not connect the inflation figures to the stock moves. The report is listed here because the two arrived in the same week.
How much of the exposure runs through retirement plans
Most of that exposure runs through retirement plans, not brokerage accounts. In its summary report, the Fed says retirement accounts were held by 54.9 percent of families in 2025, with a conditional median value of $106,000, while direct stock ownership stood at 19.0 percent, down from 21.0 percent in 2022. Families with retirement accounts can feel an index move without ever placing a stock trade.
That $77,400 median is large compared with most household accounts, which is why a 4.5 percent weekly move in an index can matter. Applied to a holding of that size, the Nasdaq’s weekly percentage loss would equal about $3,500. That is an illustration from two published numbers. Few households own the Nasdaq Composite in exactly that proportion.
The exposure is not even across ages. Retirement accounts carry a deadline of their own: the IRS says the first required distribution from a traditional IRA is due by April 1 of the year after the owner turns 73. Owners who must withdraw from a falling account sell shares at lower prices than a week earlier.
Is the mix of stocks, bonds and cash right for a rough week?
A week like this tests how a portfolio is divided. The SEC’s investor education site defines asset allocation as dividing investments among different categories, such as stocks, bonds and cash. The Dow’s gain and the Nasdaq’s loss in the same five days shows how much that division can change the result.
For individual investors, the SEC’s investor page collects tools to check an adviser or a seller of an investment, warnings about current fraud and a place to file a complaint. Those investor alerts and the complaint form sit on the same page.
Markets reopen Monday, October 19. Whether the Nasdaq’s 4.5 percent slide extends or reverses is not something Friday’s table can answer. What it does record is exact: a close of 26,140.03, a loss of 1,226.14 points on the week, and a year-to-date gain that is still 12.5 percent.
Is the retirement mix ready for another rough week?
Stocks swung hard in one week while the Dow gained, a reminder that account balances can move in ways a household cannot control. Fixed costs do not move with them, and programs that reduce those costs have to be applied for.
The Benefits Checklist covers 11 benefit programs, among them Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help for prescriptions and senior property-tax breaks, with the 2026 income limits for each. This story is about markets, so the turn is plain: the checklist is for the costs that stay put when portfolios fall. A printable tracker comes with it.
Get The Benefits Checklist to see which of 11 programs could cut costs when markets fall →
More Financial Reading
- 21 Ways to Stretch a $2,087 Social Security Check
- 15 Places to Find Your Share of the $4.25 Billion States Give Back
- 21 Ways Retirees Can Raise $1,000 Fast Without a Job
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
