Bear Market Hits Wall Street
Wall Street confirmed with the S&P 500 on Monday that it is now in bear market territory. The benchmark S&P index fell for four straight days yesterday as it fell nearly 3.90% as aggressive interest rate hikes scared investors. The index is now down more than 20% from its recent record close on January 3.
All major S&P areas closed sharply lower, with the exception of only 10 components in positive territory. The index lost 151.23 points or 3.88% to end at 3,749.63. Market heavyweights such as Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. were the biggest drags on the S&P 500.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 1,000 points before ending with a loss of 876, or 2.79%.
The Nasdaq Composite also suffered its fourth consecutive loss. The index lost 544 points to close at 4.60% and closed at 1,288.32. While Tesla dropped 7.1%, Amazon dropped 5.5%. Gamestop dropped 8.4%.
On 7 March, the index confirmed that it was in bear market territory. It is down more than 30% from its 52-week high of 16,764.86. In addition, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note hit 3.44%, according to a Reuters report. This is the highest level since April 2011.
Wall Street also came down heavily on Friday after inflation data scared investors. According to the data, inflation in America has reached 8.60 percent at the age of 40.
The high rate of inflation has investors concerned that the Federal Reserve may aggressively raise key rates. The Fed will announce its policy decision on Wednesday afternoon.
Markets have been under pressure this year after rising oil prices and supply chain disruptions, and also due to the war in Ukraine.