Hawkish Comments from Fed's Powell Send Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500 Sharply Lower
Hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sparked Wall Street selling on Tuesday, as hopes further dimmed that the central bank would be able to halt its interest rate hiking in the near future.
Hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sparked Wall Street selling on Tuesday, as hopes further dimmed that the central bank would be able to halt its interest rate hiking in the near future.
The Nasdaq Composite (COMP.IND) closed -1.3%, the S&P 500 (SP500) ended -1.5% and the Dow (DJI) finished -1.7%.
The Dow Jones led the major averages lower, dropping 574.98 points to close at 32,856.46. The S&P 500 fell 62.05 points to end at 3,986.37 and the Nasdaq retreated 145.40 points to finish at 11,530.33.
All 11 S&P sectors ended in the red. Financials and Real Estate led the way lower, with each posting a decline of at least 2.5%. Consumer Staples was the only market segment to show a loss of less than 1%.
“Chairman Powell's testimony reminded markets that the Fed is hell-bent on pushing inflation to its elusive 2% target rate using its primary monetary policy tool, the Fed Funds Rate," – one Wall Street analyst commented. – "Even though inflationary pressures are a supply-side economic issue, the central bank seems willing to trade a recession to lower inflation."
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