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The stock market continued to plunge on Monday after the summer rally on Wall Street fizzled out last week, with investors once again growing nervous about aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve as experts warn that the “textbook” bear market rally has run out of steam.
Investors are expecting more hawkish commentary from Fed officials at this week’s Jackson Hole … [+]
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Stocks were on track for their worst single-day decline since late June: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.9%, over 600 points, while the S&P 500 lost 2.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 2.6%.
US stocks opened lower after European markets fell sharply, driven by expectations for more rate hikes from the European Central Bank, while the euro fell below parity with the US dollar for the second time this year.
Euro zone fears recession spiked once again as experts warn of a potential energy crisis this winter, especially as Russia squeezes the supply of natural gas to EU member countries.
US markets, meanwhile, fell as traders anticipate more hawkish commentary from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell at the central bank’s upcoming Jackson Hole Economic Symposium this week.
Powell is likely to reiterate what Fed officials have been saying publicly for weeks—that there needs to be a more meaningful decline in inflation before the central bank can slow the pace of interest rate hikes and monetary tightening.
Big tech stocks moved lower and led market declines on Monday as investors worried about more rate hikes, with Google-parent Alphabet falling roughly 2.5%, Facebook-parent Meta 3%, Amazon 3.5% and Netflix 6%.