By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com — The S&P 500 swung between gains and losses Thursday, and remained close to bear-market territory as stocks struggled to find their footing following the biggest one-day selloff since 2020 a day earlier.

It traded 0.3% lower to 18% below the peak it reached, barely shy of its 20% bear market low. The lost 0.5% (170 points) and gained 0.3% (0.3%).

The tech stocks were briefly green as investors continued to be concerned about aggressive rate rises.

Apple (NASDAQ), was the leader in declines in large tech. They were down over 1%, while Wall Street looked at their outlook for iPhone demand.

Bank of America raised its estimates on iPhone sales to 237 million units from 231 million for Apple’s 2023 fiscal year, after conceding that prior iPhone estimates may have been “too conservative.”

Cisco (NASDAQ: ) was another major market drag, plummeting over 14% in the wake of Cisco’s reports and guidance that was below Wall Street expectations due to China lockdowns.

“Although the lockdown is expected to be lifted on June 1, it remains uncertain if improvements can be seen in the short term considering ports and airports are expected to be congested as nearly all manufacturers will compete for the capacity to get their products shipped,” Credit Suisse said in a note.

Harley-Davidson (NYSE 🙂 has reversed approximately 9% following a two-week suspension of vehicle assembly and shipment after a supplier was involved in a regulatory compliance issue.

The market’s defensive areas, utilities and consumer staples, also fell. This was exacerbated by the losses at Clorox (NYSE 🙂 and Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE :). Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE :).

The market woes of the rest were not felt by consumer discretionary stock, but they did manage to ignore travel stocks. Expedia (NASDAQ:), Caesars Entertainment  (NASDAQ:) and Booking Holdings (NASDAQ:) rallied as investors looked ahead to rebound in travel demand, particularly in China, where lockdown measures were eased.

Tesla (NASDAQ): Also supported gains in consumer discretionary stocks, despite Wedbush lowering its stock price. Wedbush forecasted a China-led drop in orders for the second quarter.

Wedbush cut its price target on Tesla to $1,000 from $1,400, pointing to the Shanghai lockdowns, which have been an “epic disaster” and are expected to modestly impact delivery in the second quarter, the research firm said.

Although the economy did not do much to ease fears about slowing future economic growth, it showed an increase in manufacturing activity that was sharply below expectations.

Also, Unter Armour (NYSE:) dropped about 11% following an unexpected announcement by the apparel retailer that Chief Executive PatrikFrisk would be stepping down in June.