Week of 07/31-08/04 US Credit Rating Downgraded by Fitch, Amazon and Apple earnings

Indexes closed lower on Friday after a volatile week of earnings reports and economic news. Fitch ratings downgraded the US National debt earlier this week on Tuesday and the stock market fell the following day, marking the works performance for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since February. The downgrade went from the highest rating of "AAA" to "AA+" caused from a "a steady deterioration in standards of governance" as stated by Fitch. This decision was also a result from lawmakers negotiating up until the debt ceiling deadline which could of caused the nation to default on its debt. The major tech companies stock prices were affected by this decision due to their company operations structure being particularly sensitive to interest rate changes.

Apple reported earnings this week as the stock price fell close to 5% after hours due to missed iPhone sales expectations. This metric is significant for Apple since around half of their revenue comes from the iPhone category. Mac and iPad sales also declined and is expected to continue to decline for the following quarter due to held back demand from factory shutdowns. On the bright side, Apple reported record revenue on the services category as Apple has focused to increase this category throughout the year via their new service offerings and subscriptions.

Amazon also reported earnings this week and the stock price soared close to 10% after hours due top beating earnings all around in every category. Thursday marked the biggest percentage point gain for Amazon this year with AMZN stock reaching a high of 143.63. Amazon continues to position itself as a Web Services leader as demand in this sector grows and Amazon expects net sales to continue climbing.