The market's crazy week

So ends a wild week that no doubt had many scrambling to their brokerage accounts and 401(k)s at some point, squinting to assess the damage.

By the numbers: The S&P 500 was down nearly 3% for the week at one point today, before rallying in the final hour to end down 1%.

• The tech-heavy Nasdaq had fared even worse, approaching a 5% drop before catching Friday's eleventh-hour rally. Magnificent Seven stocks, led by Nvidia, had a bruising week. And small caps weren't spared either, with the Russell 2000 finishing the week down 1.2%.

Crypto's losses were even steeper. Bitcoin shed 12% over the past seven days, while roughly $445 billion of value was wiped out of the digital assets market overall.

So what happened? Several factors contributed to the jittery week.

• On Monday, red flags appeared in economic and survey data, suggesting the Trump administration's policies were beginning to weigh on businesses' purchasing plans, hiring intentions and hopes of lower inflation.
• On Wednesday, Nvidia's earnings, while strong, failed to reignite the AI rally that has driven the market for months.
• And throughout the week, businesses and investors faced conflicting reports and statements on tariffs, which only fueled uncertainty.

The impact: The Cboe Volatility Index, a popular gauge of stock market anxiety, surged this week — gaining as much as 23% at one point today from where it ended Friday.

• That helped spur a risk-off trade. The dollar rose and Treasury yields fell, with yields on the 10-year note falling from 4.42% last Friday to 4.21% this afternoon. This flight to safety took its toll on crypto.

Yes, but: This afternoon, despite it all, stocks came roaring back. Volatility works both ways.

• "We think the bull market is intact," David Lefkowitz at UBS Global Wealth Management, told Bloomberg. "But we have also cautioned that volatility would likely be higher this year. Therefore, we have been highlighting that short-term hedges may be worth considering."