What’s News in Markets: Bearish Bets, Defiant Oil Prices, a Social Media Reckoning

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Hey, listeners, Your Money Briefing is on a break, but it will be back with more personal finance information for you in the future. Until then, here's the news moving markets this week.

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[upbeat music] Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, March 28th. I'm Imani Moise for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's dive in. Markets are sliding, and some people are scared. Investors piled into options contracts that bet against the S&P five hundred, and retail traders are getting more timid. Their activity is on track to reach the lowest level in two years. Plus, is big tech having its big tobacco moment? Before we get into that, let's see how the major indexes did. The Nasdaq entered correction territory on Thursday, falling ten percent from its most recent high and finished the week down more than three percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average followed, crossing the correction threshold on Friday, closing one point four percent lower. The benchmark S&P five hundred ended two percent lower, extending its longest weekly losing streak in nearly four years. What's interesting is that many of the companies dragging markets lower recently were the same stocks that led them to historic highs