Dow Jones – Dow, S&P 500 on the verge of closing below key bearish line in the sand for first time since November

U.S. stocks on Friday afternoon were getting hammered, with two of the equity benchmarks on the brink of finishing beneath their 50-day moving average for the first time since early November as worries about the economic recovery and fears that volatile trade in a batch of small, heavily shorted companies, GameStop Corp.
GME,
+59.09%
and AMC Entertainment Holdings
AMC,
+54.11%,
may reflect a speculative bubble across the wider market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-1.50%
was down 1.7% at 30,100, with its short-term 50-day moving average at 30,319.91. The S&P 500 index
SPX,
-1.43%
was off 1.6% at 3,725, trading below its 50-day MA at 3,716.08. The last time the Dow ended below its 50-day was Nov. 4 and the S&P 500 last closed below its short-term average on Nov. 3, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-1.62%
was off 1.7% at 13,107, holding above its 50-day moving average at 12,721.16. Market technicians tend to view moving averages as one indicator of bullish and bearish momentum in an asset.