Wall St tumbles amid Fed tightening jitters, economic rumblings
- Rail strike averted after unions secure tentative deal
- Retail sales post unexpected gain
- World Bank, IMF warn of global slowdown
- Adobe slides on Figma buyout deal
- Indexes down: $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US$ 0.56%, $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US$ 1.13%, $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US$ 1.43%
- Retail sales post unexpected gain
- World Bank, IMF warn of global slowdown
- Adobe slides on Figma buyout deal
- Indexes down: $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US$ 0.56%, $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US$ 1.13%, $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US$ 1.43%
Wall Street ended sharply lower on Thursday, extending its losses in late afternoon trading as a raft of economic data failed to alter the expected course of aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve amid growing warnings of global recession.
The sell-off gathered momentum toward the end of the session, with market leaders including $Microsoft(MSFT.US$, $Apple(AAPL.US$ and $Amazon(AMZN.US$ hitting the tech-laden Nasdaq hardest.
After the bell, $FedEx(FDX.US$ tumbled 14.5% after the package delivery company said its fiscal first-quarter results were hit by global volume softness and it withdrew its financial forecast, saying it expected further deterioration of business conditions.
Earlier, in Thursday's trading session, the benchmark S&P 500 closed a hair above 3,900, seen by many analysts as a key technical support level that has been tested several times over the past two weeks.
Interest rate-sensitive banks .SPXPK helped soften the blue-chip Dow's decline.
That scale tipped further to the bear side after the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned of an impending global economic slowdown.
A mixed bag of economic data, led by better-than-expected retail sales, cemented the likelihood of another 75 basis-point interest rate hike from the Fed at the conclusion of next week's monetary policy meeting, as uncertainties simmered over where the central bank will go from there.
While the retail print surprised to the upside, declining jobless claims reaffirmed the labor market's strength, and a drop in import prices supported the past-peak inflation narrative.
But a surprise drop in industrial production and a contraction of Atlantic region manufacturing provided fodder for economic pessimists.
None of the data appeared to change the calculus regarding Fed expectations. Financial markets have now fully priced in an interest rate increase of at least 75 basis points next Wednesday, with a one-in-five chance of a super-sized, 100-basis-point hike.
U.S. railroads remained open after the Biden administration helped broker a tentative deal with unions to avert a strike, thereby avoiding a rail shutdown which would add to supply-chain pressures at the core of hot inflation.
Shares of railroad operators $Union Pacific(UNP.US$ and $Norfolk Southern(NSC.US$ outperformed the broader market.
Healthcare .SPXHC posted the biggest advance with an assist from health insurer $Humana(HUM.US$, whose 8.4% surge following its strong earnings forecast made it the top gainer in the S&P 500.
$Adobe(ADBE.US$ was the S&P 500's biggest percentage loser, tumbling 16.8% after the company said it would buy Figma in a cash-and-stock deal that valued the online design startup at about $20 billion.
$SPDR S&P 500 ETF(SPY.US$ $Invesco QQQ Trust(QQQ.US$
$SPDR S&P 500 ETF(SPY.US$ $Invesco QQQ Trust(QQQ.US$
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