Dow tumbles 2% in worsening sell-off on interest rate worries

Wall Street shares tumbled similarly Friday afternoon on rising angst over the Federal Reserve’s plan to aggressively counter inflation with higher interest costs.

Near 1830 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average changed down 2.0 percent at 34,088.51.

The extensive-based totally S&P 500 fell 2.1 percent to four,303.06, even as the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.9 percent to 12,919.52.

The selloff followed hawkish remarks Thursday from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who signaled that the central bank could enact a half-point rate increase in May, twice the level of a typical Fed hike.

“There’s high anxiety over how aggressive the Fed is going to be,” said Art Hogan, strategist at National Securities, adding that investors were also looking to lessen equity exposure ahead of the weekend.

Losses were large-primarily based, on all 11 indices of the S&P 500 inside the red.