“Increasing cost pressures and an uncertain outlook from the biggest technology names have spurred investors to go over the weekend and investors are unlikely to be comfortable any time soon as the Fed is widely seen with a hawkish message next week. expects to deliver 50-basis point growth, said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.
On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 155.57 points to close at 4,131.93. The benchmark index is now down 13.3 per cent for the year. The Dow closed down 939.18 points at 32,977.21. The Nasdaq closed down 536.89 points at 12,334.64. It is down 21.2% so far this year.
Shares of small companies also had a bad day. The Russell 2000 closed at 1,864.10, down 53.84 points, or 2.8 per cent.
Big Tech has been leading the market decline throughout the month as traders left high-flying territory. Tech posted huge gains during the pandemic and is now starting to look higher, especially as interest rates rise sharply as the Fed steps up its fight against inflation.
Internet retail giant Amazon fell 14 percent, one of the biggest falls in the S&P 500, a day after reporting a rare quarterly loss and giving investors a disappointing revenue forecast. The weak update from Amazon comes as Wall Street worries about a possible slowdown in consumer spending coupled with rising inflation.
Prices of everything from food to gas are rising as the economy recovers from the pandemic and there has been a huge disconnect between high demand and short supply. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has only added to inflationary concerns as it raises prices for oil, natural gas, wheat and corn.
The closely-tracked inflation by the Federal Reserve rose 6.6 percent in March from a year earlier, the Commerce Department reported Friday, the highest 12-month jump in four decades and further evidence that rising prices are straining household budgets and health. of the economy.
The latest report on rising US inflation follows a report by statistics agency Eurostat that showed inflation hit a record high of 7.5 percent in April for the 19 countries that use the euro.
Bond yields rose after heated readings on inflation. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 2.92 per cent from 2.85 per cent.
Rising inflation has prompted central banks to raise interest rates to reduce the impact on businesses and consumers.
Much of the worry on Wall Street in April has focused on how quickly the Fed will raise its benchmark interest rate and whether an aggressive series of hikes will stifle economic growth. The Fed chairman has indicated that the central bank may raise short-term interest rates by twice the normal amount in upcoming meetings beginning next week. It has already raised its key overnight rate once, the first such increase since 2018, and Wall Street is anticipating several big increases in the coming months.
Investors spent much of April shifting away from Big Tech companies, whose stock prices benefit from lower interest rates, into areas with less risk. The consumer staples sector of the S&P 500, which includes many home and personal goods makers, was the only sector on the benchmark index to gain in April. Other safe-play sectors, such as utilities, outperformed the broader market, while technology and communications stocks are the biggest losers.
