These 10 Firms Took A Hit on Friday

Wall Street’s main indices all finished in the green territory on Friday, as investors repositioned their portfolios ahead of president-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.

The Dow jumped by 0.78 percent, while the S&P surged by 1 percent. Meanwhile, Nasdaq soared 1.51 percent.

However, ten companies under mixed sectors bucked an overall positive market sentiment as multiple negative factors put pressure on investor sentiment. In this article, let’s look at the reasons that dragged their shares performance.

To come up with the top 10 losers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.

Stock market data on a laptop

10. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) saw its share prices on Friday drop by 3.17 percent to close at $12.52 apiece as investor sentiment was weighed down by news that it was slapped with a class action lawsuit by none other than the Justice Department over claims that it was filling millions of unlawful opioid prescriptions.

The suit, which was filed in a court in Illinois on Friday, alleged that Walgreens and its subsidiaries knowingly filled millions of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances from August 2012 up to present.

Allegedly, Walgreens and its pharmacies filled prescriptions for dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids, including early refills among other prescriptions despite clear “red flags.”

The lawsuit also alleged that the pharmacy giant ignored substantial evidence from multiple sources that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, including from its own pharmacists and internal data, the suit claims.

9. Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP)

Snap Inc. (SNAP), operator of Snapchat, dropped its share prices for a second day on Friday, losing 3.25 percent to finish at $10.86 apiece as investors sold off positions following news that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is set to refer a complaint against the company to the Department of Justice over allegations that Snapchat’s My AI chatbot used an artificial intelligence that “poses risks and harms to young users.”

A representative from Snap debunked the claims, saying that its MyAI incorporates “rigorous safety and privacy processes” and that the FTC’s complaint “lacks concrete evidence.”

The FTC said that its probe “uncovered reason to believe Snap (SNAP) is violating or is about to violate the law.”

In other news, investors seem to be on the sidelines looking for cues on TikTok’s decision about its US operations following the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a law that would require the company to either sell its US operations to an American firm or face a ban. Snap stands to benefit from a potential TikTok exit, with the latter being one of its largest competitors.