Tuesday’s losses added to the stock market’s decline that began in late August as Wall Street struggled with the possibility that high-interest rates would remain in place until the Federal Reserve was able to reduce inflation.
The S&P 500 lost 1.1%, increasing its three-day loss to 5.1%. With one day left in August, the benchmark index is down 3.5% for the month.
Also Read| US Stock Market: DJIA, S&P500 and Nasdaq turns red in early trade on Tuesday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.1%. Smaller company stocks sank as well, sending the Russell 2000 down by 1.5%.
Markets have fallen after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that the central bank will adhere to its policy of raising interest rates to attempt to cool the worst inflation in four decades.
Also Read| US Premarket: Twitter, Baidu, Best Buy and other stocks making biggest moves
A strong report on the job market Tuesday morning further diminished any hopes that the Fed would be able to ease up on its inflation-fighting policy. The higher rates the Fed is imposing are meant to keep inflation in check by slowing down the economy, including the pace of hiring.
The government reported that there were 11.2 million open jobs on the last day of July. That’s near;y two jobs for every unemployed person, on average. That number was up from 11 million in June, and June’s figure was also revised sharply higher.
Also Read| Bulk Deals: Sidhivinayak sold BESTAGRO shares, SKSE bought stake in DIL
The selling was widespread Tuesday, with all the sectors in the S&P 500 ending in the red. All told, the S&P 500 fell 44.45 points to 3,986.16. The Dow dropped 308.12 points to 31,790.87 and the Nasdaq fell 134.53 points to 11,883.14. The Russell 2000 gave up 27.35 points to close at 1,855.59.
Major indexes had gained ground in July and into early August on hopes that weaker economic data would prompt the Fed to ease up on its high-interest rate policy. Those gains followed a weak first half of the year where the S&P 500 dropped 20% from its most recent high and entered a bear market.
Also Read| FII DII data: FPI bought shares worth Rs 4165 crore on Tuesday, August 30, 2022
Technology stocks were among the biggest weights on the index Tuesday. Chipmaker Nvidia fell 2.1%.
Energy stocks fell along with U.S. crude oil prices, which dropped 5.5% to settle at $91.64 a barrel. Chevron dropped 2.4%.
While the price of U.S. crude is up more than 43% this year, it has fallen nearly 5% this month.
Also Read| NSE F&O Ban: No stock has been put under ban on Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Best Buy was a bright spot, gaining 1.6% after reporting results for its latest quarter that were much better than analysts were expecting.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 3.11%.