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😰 The Stock Market Has It's Worst Week Since September

😬 The first week of March was a rough one - with the stock market recording its worst week since September. Here’s how the major indexes performed:

• S&P 500: -3.3%

• Nasdaq 100: -3.8%

• TSX: -2.6%

• Bitcoin: -13.1%

📈 But even though the week was rough overall - on Friday, Jerome Powell (the Chair of the Federal Reserve who sets interest rates in the US) fueled a small recovery (+0.6% for the S&P 500) after saying the economy was in a good place:

✨ And while Friday’s jump was a nice relief - I’m sure many of you (especially the beginner investors) are still worried about your portfolio. So, before I dive into some of the other market news this week, let’s talk about it…

😰 Long-Term Investors Shouldn’t Panic

⏰ It’s a tale as old as time - when the markets start to dip, investors start to panic.

💡 And I get it, it can be scary to see hundreds (or thousands) of your hard-earned dollars evaporate overnight. So for the newer investors reading (and hopefully as a helpful reminder for even the more experienced folks), here are 3 quick tips during these volatile markets:

1) 📈 In the Long Term, the Market Goes Up

It’s very easy to get caught up in the short-term swings in your portfolio, but if you’re investing for the long run, the occasional market correction is par for the course. To illustrate, here’s the annual returns in the S&P 500 over the past 30 years (pulled from Blossom’s IG account where we post lots of helpful images like this):

🔴 If you look month-to-month, red months are even more frequent. In the 396 months from 1992 to 2025, the S&P 500 only had a positive return in 62% of the months:

🎯 If you’re investing with the plan to sell in a few months or a few years, these swings can definitely be painful, but if you have a long time horizon, you don’t need to worry too much about short-term fluctuations. Some months will be red, and others will be green - but overall, stick to your plan and remember in the long run, the market goes up!

2) ❌ Don’t Treat Your Stocks Like An Index

⭐️ Tip #1 is especially true for index investors - who buy and hold a market index like the S&P 500 - which is diversified across the top 500 companies in the US and auto-rebalances as the companies go up and down in value.

🤔 But what about those of us who hold individual stocks instead of, or alongside, the index? Well, in an amazing post by @ronan on Blossom he says something simple, yet very important:

💡 Ronan points out that companies are not the same as an index and, unlike the S&P 500, might not continue to go up even in the long term (as they are driven by the success/failure of the underlying business).

🤔 So, what does this mean for investors who hold individual stocks? Well most importantly, when you bought the stock you should have had a clear thesis about why you think the company is a good investment. If the stock dips, ask yourself if anything has fundamentally changed about that thesis.

⚖️ Not all ‘dips’ are created equal. For instance - Palantir dipped when the government announced budget cuts at the Department of Defense. That’s a real fundamental change that is going to hurt the underlying business. Now that doesn’t mean in that case you should dump all your Palantir stock, but you should take the time to re-evaluate and see if you need to update your thesis and plan about the company.

🚘 To use an example from my own investing, when Tesla soared over 100% between the November election and late December I decided to sell my stock, as from my perspective nothing had fundemantally changed about the company to warrant such a massive increase. Since then the stock has fallen nearly 50% (back down to pre-election levels).

3) 👀 Market Dips Can Be a Great Test

✨ From my perspective, this week’s dip is a great thing for new investors as it’s a perfect test of whether your portfolio actually matches your risk tolerance.

⚠️ The problem when a market is going up and up and up, is investors (expecially beginners) start building riskier and riskier portfolios - weighting heavily into tech, investing aggressively into small-caps, and chasing the double-digit returns they see other investors making.

🧐 If that’s your strategy, and you have a clear thesis around all your stock picks and are comfortable with the risk you’re taking on, that’s one thing. But if not, you should take this dip as an opportunity to step back and re-evaluate if your portfolio actually matches your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance (+ read some of the awesome posts in the Featured Discussions section at the end of the newsletter)

🤿 Before we dive into some of the other top news of the week (from Broadcom soaring 9%, Costco taking a dip, and Nasdaq annoucing 24-hour trading, a quick word from this week’s sponsor Guardian Capital!

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ALSO IN THE NEWS
🗞️ Other Key Headlines this Week

📈 Broadcom Jumps 9% on Friday, Signalling Good News for AI

• Broadcom ($AVGO) surged 9% on Friday after reporting a 25% increase in annual revenue to $14.92 billion - beating analyst expectations by 2%/

• Broadcom reported AI-related revenue of $4.1 billion for the quarter, up 77% year-over-year, signaling strong demand for AI chips and networking solutions.

• The earnings and stock jump were a glimmer of hope for the AI industry which has been struggling to hit increasingly high expectations from Wall Street (with Nvidia down 14% since earnings despite reporting a 78% increase in annual revenue)

• For a breakdown of Broadcom check out my write-up here.

🎮 Nintendo Drops 9% After Tarriffs Cause Concerns For Switch 2 Sales

• Nintendo’s stock dropped 9.2% on Friday, its biggest decline since August, as investors worry that upcoming US tariffs could raise Switch 2 prices.

• Analysts warn that price increases could hurt demand, especially as Nintendo faces competition from Sony and Microsoft in the next-gen console cycle.

• Canadians can now buy Nintendo in Canadian dollars under the ticker NTDO since BMO’s launch of new international CDRs.

🛒 Costco Falls 8% After Missing Earnings

• Costco ($COST) fell 8% this week after reporting earnings of $4.02 per share, missing Wall Street’s expectation of $4.09.

• The earnings miss came despite strong sales growth, as higher operational costs and unfavorable foreign exchange rates hurt profits.

• Despite the selloff, analysts remain optimistic about Costco’s long-term outlook, citing continued membership growth and strong consumer demand.

📊 Doordash Set To Join the S&P 500

• DoorDash ($DASH) will officially be added to the S&P 500 on March 24 as part of the index’s quarterly rebalancing.

• The stock jumped 7% in after-hours trading after the announcement, as S&P 500 inclusion often brings increased institutional investment.

• Williams-Sonoma ($WSM), Expand Energy ($EXE), and TKO Group ($TKO) will also be joining the index replacing Borgwarner Inc, Teleflex Inc, Celanese Corp, and FMC Corp.

⏰ Nasdaq Announces Plans For 24-Hour Trading

• Nasdaq has followed NYSE and Cboe in announcing plans for 24-hour trading pending regulatory approval.

• Nasdaq hopes to introduce 24-hour trading by mid-2026, aiming to make US markets more accessible for global investors.

• Blossom recently teamed up with Nasdaq to raise awareness of their indexes (like the Nasdaq-100) and the ETFs that track them (like $QQQ)

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FROM THE BLOSSOM COMMUNITY
⭐️ Featured Discussions this Week

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