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U.S. stocks ended lower for the fourth-consecutive session on Wednesday, the last trading day of the month, to record the weakest August performance in years as concerns over steep interest rate hikes once again made investors jittery. All three major indexes ended in negative territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) slumped 0.9% or 280.44 points to end at 31,510.43 points.
The S&P 500 declined 0.8% or 31.16 points to close at 3,955 points. Materials, consumer discretionary and tech stocks were the biggest losers.
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) each lost 1%, while the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) declined 1.2%. Ten of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.6% or 66.93 points to finish at 11,816.20 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 1.30% to 25.87. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.44-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.32-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. A total of 11.16 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 10.52 billion.
Rate Hike Worries Continue to Grip Markets
Investors have been debating if the Fed would soften its aggressive rate hike stance given the slowing economic growth. Many had anticipated that the Fed would not go for a steep rate hike in its September meeting having already hiked interest rates by 225 basis points this year. This saw a late summer rally, which peaked around two weeks ago on Aug 16, almost two and half months after markets hit the bottom in mid-June.
However, the rally lost steam last week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell made clear that the central bank would continue with steep rate hikes so long it isn’t able to fully tame soaring inflation. This dampened investors’ spirits, as hopes of a less steep rate hike in the Fed’s upcoming meeting were dashed.
The negative sentiment has been taking a toll on stocks since then, with three major indexes having given up more than 50% of their monthly gains in just four sessions. Wednesday wasn’t any different.
To add to the worries, fresh economic data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. job openings rose to 11.2 million in July. This once again raised fears that the Fed now has one more solid reason to go for a steep rate hike.
Semiconductor stocks were big losers on Wednesday. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD - Free Report) each declined 2.4%. Texas Instruments Incorporated’s (TXN - Free Report) shares fell 0.9%.
Markets ended sharply down for the month. Investors’ nervousness escalated further as they go into the new month low on confidence given that September is a historically weak period for the markets.
Markets recorded their worst August performance since 2015, with the Dow declining 4.1%. The S&P 500 also fell 4.1% for August, while the Nasdaq fished the month 4.5% lower.
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Stock Market News for Sep 1, 2022
U.S. stocks ended lower for the fourth-consecutive session on Wednesday, the last trading day of the month, to record the weakest August performance in years as concerns over steep interest rate hikes once again made investors jittery. All three major indexes ended in negative territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) slumped 0.9% or 280.44 points to end at 31,510.43 points.
The S&P 500 declined 0.8% or 31.16 points to close at 3,955 points. Materials, consumer discretionary and tech stocks were the biggest losers.
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) each lost 1%, while the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) declined 1.2%. Ten of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in negative territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.6% or 66.93 points to finish at 11,816.20 points.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 1.30% to 25.87. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.44-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.32-to-1 ratio favored declining issues. A total of 11.16 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 10.52 billion.
Rate Hike Worries Continue to Grip Markets
Investors have been debating if the Fed would soften its aggressive rate hike stance given the slowing economic growth. Many had anticipated that the Fed would not go for a steep rate hike in its September meeting having already hiked interest rates by 225 basis points this year. This saw a late summer rally, which peaked around two weeks ago on Aug 16, almost two and half months after markets hit the bottom in mid-June.
However, the rally lost steam last week after Fed Chair Jerome Powell made clear that the central bank would continue with steep rate hikes so long it isn’t able to fully tame soaring inflation. This dampened investors’ spirits, as hopes of a less steep rate hike in the Fed’s upcoming meeting were dashed.
The negative sentiment has been taking a toll on stocks since then, with three major indexes having given up more than 50% of their monthly gains in just four sessions. Wednesday wasn’t any different.
To add to the worries, fresh economic data released on Tuesday showed that U.S. job openings rose to 11.2 million in July. This once again raised fears that the Fed now has one more solid reason to go for a steep rate hike.
Semiconductor stocks were big losers on Wednesday. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD - Free Report) each declined 2.4%. Texas Instruments Incorporated’s (TXN - Free Report) shares fell 0.9%.
Also, tech stocks continued to suffer. Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) declined 1.1%, while Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN - Free Report) lost 1.5%. Apple has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
No economic news was released on Wednesday.
Monthly Roundup
Markets ended sharply down for the month. Investors’ nervousness escalated further as they go into the new month low on confidence given that September is a historically weak period for the markets.
Markets recorded their worst August performance since 2015, with the Dow declining 4.1%. The S&P 500 also fell 4.1% for August, while the Nasdaq fished the month 4.5% lower.