Due to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s suggestion of additional interest rate increases to contain inflation, US markets slumped on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 102.42 points, or 0.30%, to 33,952.64, while the S&P 500 sank 22.98 points, or 0.52%, to 4,365.73. 13,502.20 the Nasdaq Composite was down 165.09 points, or 1.21%.
US Equities Fall
In addition, Powell reaffirmed that the Fed is “strongly committed to bringing inflation back down to our 2% goal.” Nvidia, Microsoft, FedEx, and Tesla all saw 2.5% declines.
The yield on the 10-year treasury in the bond market remained constant at 3.72%, while the yield on the two-year treasury increased to 4.71% from 4.69% late Tuesday.
- Dow Jones drops 0.30%, S&P 500 drops 0.52%, Nasdaq rises 1.21%.
- Powell reaffirms Fed’s commitment to a 2% inflation target.
- European shares decline, STOXX 600 index 0.5%, Asia’s Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei 225 fall.
The euro increased to $1.0984 from $1.0917 while the US dollar increased to 141.80 Japanese yen. On Wednesday, Canadian stocks declined on expectations that the central bank would raise interest rates again.
While natural gas for July delivery increased by 11 cents to $2.60 per 1,000 cubic feet, energy costs increased by $1.22 to $77.12 per barrel.
European shares started to decline, and the STOXX 600 index for all of Europe finished 0.5% lower. In Asia, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong fell 2%, the Shanghai Composite fell 1.3%, the Nikkei 225 in Japan increased 0.6%, the S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia closed 0.6% lower, and the S&P/NZX 50 index in New Zealand fell 0.1%.
