US stocks dropped sharply Thursday, more than erasing the bounce seen the previous session following the Federal Reserve’s largest rate hike since 1994, as worries about the economic outlook moved center stage.
What’s happening
-
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA
dropped 750 points, or 2.4%, to 29,919. -
The S&P 500 SPX
shed 122 points, or 3.2%, to 3,668. -
The Nasdaq Composite Comp
decreased 451 points, or 4.1%, to 10,648.
On Wednesday, the Dow rose 304 points, or 1%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.5% as the indexes snapped a bruising five-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite ended with a gain of 2.5%.
What’s driving markets
The Fed’s three-quarters of a percentage point interest rate hike on Wednesday could be followed by another hike of that magnitude in July, or a half-point increase, according to Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a press conference after the decision was announced. The Fed also cut its economic growth forecast and lifted its unemployment outlook while not going as far as to predict recession.
“Markets now expect the Fed to tighten more aggressively than previously laid out,” said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird Private Wealth Management, in a note. “Higher interest rates mean a cooler US economy, and therefore a higher chance of recession in the next couple of years. Market selloffs have historically been deeper and longer when associated with a recession, helping explain the downside volatility of the last few days. ”
“Further, the recent uptick in inflation can be largely attributed to energy and food – two items that 1) are somewhat out of the Fed’s control; and 2) more directly impact consumer spending and sentiment. High gas prices are weighing on an already-burdened consumer, ”he wrote.
Analysts also drew attention to the fact that not only did Powell express concern about last week’s data showing US consumer prices shooting up by 8.6% in the 12 months ending May, but he also noted rising inflation expectations, as measured by the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report.
“Inflation expectations data had unnerved committee members,” said Ryan Djajasaputra, economist at Investec. “Powell stated that the Fed needed to take this development seriously.”
See also: As Fed aggressively raises rates, here are 4 takeaways from Jerome Powell’s press conference
Treasury yields turned south as the selloff in equities appeared to spark haven-buying interest. Yields and debt prices move opposite each other .. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note BX: TMUBMUSD10Y
was down 6 basis points at 3.32%.
Meanwhile, the Swiss National Bank delivered a surprisingly large half-point rate hike Thursday, which buoyed the Swiss franc USDCHF,
while the Bank of England lifted rates by a quarter-point, with the central bank’s relatively cautious guidance sending the pound lower.
In US economic data, construction started on new US homes fell 14.4% in May, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The annual rate of total housing starts fell to 1.55 million last month from a revised 1.81 million in April. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expected housing starts to fall to a 1.68 million rate from April’s initial estimate of 1.72 million.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday that its gauge of regional business activity fell to -3.3 in June from 2.6 in the prior month, signaling the first contraction in factory activity since May 2020.
New filings for unemployment benefits fell by 3,000 last week to 229,000, but they remained close to a five-month high, possibly offering a sign that layoffs have ticked up from record-low levels.
Companies in focus
-
Revlon Inc.
REV
said Thursday that it has voluntarily filed for bankruptcy. Shares were down 0.7%. -
Tesla Inc.
TSLA
is hiking its US prices, as the electric vehicle maker battles rising aluminum costs and the global supply chain crisis. Shares fell 7.3%. -
Separately, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was expected to confirm his desire to own Twitter Inc.
TWTR
when he speaks to employees of the social-media company on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Twitter shares were off 0.9%.
Other assets
-
The ICE US Dollar Index DXY,
A measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals, fell 1%. -
Bitcoin BTCUSD
fell another 6.7% to trade near $ 21,000. -
Oil futures were choppy, with the US benchmark CL
edging up 0.2% to trade near $ 115.57 a barrel. Gold futures GC00
rose 1.5% to trade shy of $ 1,850 an ounce. -
The Stoxx Europe 600 XX: SXXP
dropped 2.5%, while London’s FTSE 100 UK: UKX
tumbled more than 3%. -
The Shanghai Composite CN: SHCOMP
ended 0.6% lower, while the Hang Seng Index HK: HSI
dropped 2.2% and the Japan’s Nikkei 225 JP: NIK
rose 0.4%.
.