US equities recorded the weakest performance in August since 2015.
As of Wednesday’s close, according to preliminary data, the Dow Jones industry average was down just over 4%, the tech-rich Nasdaq was down 4.64% and the S&P 500 was down 4.24% in the year. month.
For the day, the Dow was down 0.88%, the Nasdaq was down 0.56% and the S&P 500 was down 0.78%.
Losses in technology and retail stocks canceled out gains in communications and other industries, with Bed Bath & Beyond among the big losers, having nearly a quarter of its value written off following the announcement of a major restructuring.
Wednesday marked the fourth consecutive day of decline for all three major indices amid concerns over large interest rate hikes.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Friday that monetary policy could be held tight “for some time,” dashing hopes that rate hikes could be more modest.
The central bank has already overseen three consecutive hikes of 75 basis points in an effort to cope with high inflation.
Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York, told Reuters news agency: “All that (Powell) cares about is lowering inflation and raising rates to do it, and in terms of how much to be. aggressive, this is all to be determined by the data.
“Right now we are in this reversible market, a lot of volatility, worries that the rally we had was just a bear market rally, probably some worries that we will go back to new lows.”
Other employment data comes from the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday, and non-farm wages are expected to have risen by 300,000 last month, following a 528,000 increase in July.
