Stocks are down as choppy trade on Wall Street continues

• The losses come after a string of rocky days for markets, with key indexes frequently lurching between gains and losses by the hour.
• Investors are still trying to figure out how rising interest rates and inflation will affect the economy.
• The S&P 500 index fell 44.91 points, or 1.1%, to 4,115.77.
• It has notched losses for eight of the last nine weeks.
Advertisement

NEW YORK – Stocks sank broadly on Wall Street on Wednesday, wiping out most of the week’s gains, as investors were worried by new evidence of inflation’s impact on businesses and another bleak outlook for the global economy.

The losses come after a string of rocky days for markets, with key indexes frequently lurching between gains and losses by the hour. Investors are still trying to figure out how rising interest rates and inflation will affect the economy.

The S&P 500 index fell 44.91 points, or 1.1%, to 4,115.77. The benchmark index managed to hold on to a slight gain for the week. It has notched losses for eight of the last nine weeks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 269.24 points, or 0.8%, to 32,910.90 and the Nasdaq fell 88.96 points, or 0.7%, to 12,086.27.

Read More: Jim Cramer: Fear market that steady rise in oil prices will lead to a recession

Banks and industrial businesses were among the largest market weights. Wells Fargo dropped 1.8 percent, and Union Pacific dropped 3.1 percent. Some technology equities have also dropped. Intel fell 5.3 percent.

Stocks of smaller companies declined more than the rest of the market. The Russell 2000 index slid 28.56 points, or 1.5%, to 1,891.01.

Bond yields increased. The 10-year Treasury yield, which banks use to set mortgage and other lending rates, increased to 3.02 percent from 2.97 percent late Tuesday.

The major concerns on Wall Street are growing inflation and whether the Federal Reserve’s decision to hike interest rates rapidly would help mitigate the damage or push the economy into a recession.

“What investors need to realize is it’s going to be a long time until inflation numbers look good,” said Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco. “What they need to focus on is whether it gets better or worse related to expectations.”

Read More: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes that inflation will “remain high”

Inflation continues to wreak havoc on businesses. Scotts Miracle-Gro fell 8.9 percent after lowering its earnings prediction for the year due to retailers failing to replenish orders as expected. Retailers have warned that inflation is reducing sales as people shift to spending on services or concentrate on needs rather than purchasing otherwise discretionary products such as technology.