Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the central bank will eventually need to bring rates higher than previously anticipated in order to tame the worst inflation in decades.
The Fed announced its fourth straight extra-large rate increase of three-quarters of a percentage point as it fights the worst inflation in decades. The higher rates are intended to cool the economy, but markets fear the Fed may go too far and cause a recession.
Treasury yields jumped.
On Wednesday:
The S&P 500 fell 96.41 points, or 2.5%, to 3,759.69.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 505.44 points, or 1.5%, to 32,147.76.
The Nasdaq fell 366.05 points, or 3.4%, to 10,524.80.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 62.25 points, or 3.4%, to 1,789.14.
For the week:
The S&P 500 is down 141.37 points, or 3.6%.
The Dow is down 714.04 points, or 2.2%.
The Nasdaq is down 577.66 points, or 5.2%.
The Russell 2000 is down 57.78 points, or 3.1%.
For the year:
The S&P 500 is down 1,006.49 points, or 21.1%.
The Dow is down 4,190.54 points, or 11.5%.
The Nasdaq is down 5,120.17 points, or 32.7%.
The Russell 2000 is down 456.18 points, or 20.3%.
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