Mountain Media, LLC
  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account
Subscribe For $2.50/Month
No Result
View All Result
MM, LLC
  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account
No Result
View All Result
Mountain Media, LLC
  • Virginia News
  • West Virginia News
  • National News
  • Login
  • My account
  • Subscribe
Home Local National News

Markets tumble worldwide, bear market growls on Wall Street

June 13, 2022
in National News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

NEW YORK (AP) — Fears about a possible recession are pounding markets worldwide on Monday, and Wall Street’s S&P 500 tumbled into the maw of what’s known as a bear market after sinking more than 20% below its record set early this year.

The S&P 500 dropped 3.8% in the first chance for investors to trade after getting the weekend to reflect on the stunning news that inflation is getting worse, not better. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 879 points, or 2.8%, at 30,513, as of 11:08 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.5% lower.

The center of Wall Street’s focus was again on the Federal Reserve, which is scrambling to get inflation under control. Its main method is to raise interest rates in order to slow the economy, a blunt tool that risks a recession if used too aggressively.

Some traders are even speculating the Fed on Wednesday may raise its key short-term interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. That’s triple the usual amount and something the Fed hasn’t done since 1994. Traders now see a 34% probability of such a mega-hike, up from just 3% a week ago, according to CME Group.

No one thinks the Fed will stop there, with markets bracing for a continued series of bigger-than-usual hikes. Those would come on top of some already discouraging signals about the economy and corporate profits, including a record-low preliminary reading on consumer sentiment that was soured by high gasoline prices.

It’s all a sharp turnaround from earlier in the pandemic, when central banks worldwide slashed rates to record lows and made other moves that propped up prices for stocks and other investments in hopes of juicing the economy.

Such expectations are also sending U.S. bond yields to their highest levels in years. The two-year Treasury yield shot to 3.23% from 3.06% late Friday, its second straight major move higher. It’s more than quadrupled this year and touched its highest level since 2008.

The 10-year yield jumped to 3.32% from 3.15%, and the higher level will make mortgages and many other kinds of loans for households and for businesses more expensive. It has more than doubled this year.

The gap between the two-year and 10-year yields is also narrowing, a signal of increased pessimism about the economy in the bond market. If the two-year yield tops the 10-year yield, some investors see it as a sign of a looming recession.

The pain for markets was worldwide as investors braced for more aggressive moves from a coterie of central banks.

In Asia, indexes fell at least 3% in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Stocks there were also hurt by worries about COVID-19 infections in China, which could push authorities to resume tough, business-slowing restrictions.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX lost 2.7%, and the French CAC 40 fell 2.8%. The FTSE 100 in London dropped 1.8%.

Some of the biggest hits came for cryptocurrencies, which soared early in the pandemic when record-low interest rates encouraged some investors to pile into the riskiest investments. Bitcoin tumbled more than 18% and dropped below $22,700, according to Coindesk. It’s back to where it was in late 2020 and down from a peak of $68,990 late last year.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was 21.7% below its record set early this year. If it finishes the day more than 20% below that high, it would enter what investors call a bear market.

Bears hibernate, so bears represent a market that’s retreating, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA. In contrast, Wall Street’s nickname for a surging stock market is a bull market, because bulls charge, Stovall said.

The last bear market wasn’t that long ago, in 2020, but it was an unusually short one that lasted only about a month. The S&P 500 got close to a bear market last month, briefly dipping more than 20% below its record, but it didn’t finish a day below that threshold.

This would also be the first bear market for many novice investors who got into stock trading for the first time after the pandemic, a period when stocks largely seemed to go only up. That is, they did until inflation showed that it was worse than just a “transitory” problem as initially portrayed.

Michael Wilson, a strategist at Morgan Stanley who’s been among Wall Street’s more pessimistic voices, is sticking with his view that the S&P 500 could fall to 3,400 even if the U.S. economy avoids a recession over the next year.

That would mark another nearly 10% drop from the current level, and Wilson said it reflects his view that Wall Street’s earnings forecasts are still too optimistic, among other things.

With soaring price tags at stores souring sentiment for shoppers, even higher-income ones, Wilson said in a report that “the next shoe to drop is a discounting cycle” as companies try to clear out built-up inventories.

Such moves would cut into their profitability, and a stock’s price moves up and down largely on two things: how much cash the company is generating and how much an investor is willing to pay for it.

The Fed’s moves factor heavily into that second part because higher rates make investors less willing to pay high prices for risky investments.

Economists at Deutsche Bank said they expect the Fed to hike rates by larger-than-usual amounts on Wednesday, again in July, then again in September and a fourth time in November. Just a week ago, before Friday’s wake-up call of an inflation report, Wall Street was debating whether the Fed may take a pause on rate hikes in September.

___

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

ShareTweetShare

Related Posts

Planets on parade: 5 will be lined up in night sky this week

March 26, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Keep an eye to the sky this week for a chance to see a planetary hangout....

States’ divisions on abortion widen after Roe overturned

March 26, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A group of Tennessee Republicans began this year’s legislative session hoping to add narrow exceptions to...

Federal aid coming to tornado-wrecked swath of Mississippi

March 26, 2023

President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi early Sunday, making federal funding available to the areas hardest hit...

Biden’s Justice Dept. keeps hard line in death row cases

March 26, 2023

CHICAGO (AP) — Rejon Taylor hoped the election of Joe Biden, the first U.S. president to campaign on a pledge to...

DEA overseas review barely mentions corruption scandals

March 25, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — After nearly two years and at least $1.4 million spent, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on...

Darcelle, world’s oldest working drag queen, dies at 92

March 25, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Walter Cole, better known as the iconic drag queen who performed for decades as Darcelle XV...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • My account
  • Subscribe
  • Classifieds
Call us: +1 234 JEG THEME

© 2021 Mountain Media, LLC

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart
  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account

© 2021 Mountain Media, LLC

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
  • Sign in
  • New account

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login

  • West Virginia News
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • Mountain Messenger
      • Pocahontas Times
      • Parsons Advocate
      • Pendleton Times
      • Clay County Free Press
      • Calhoun Chronicle
      • Shinnston News
    • By County
      • Greenbrier County
      • Clay County
      • Harrison County
      • Calhoun County
      • Pocahontas County
      • Pendleton County
      • Tucker County
  • Virginia Media, INC
    • Around The State
    • By Paper
      • The Enterprise
      • Fincastle Herald
      • Henry County Enterprise
      • News Messenger
      • News Journal
      • Vinton Messenger
      • New Castle Record
      • Salem Times Register
    • By County/City
      • Botetourt County
      • Henry County
      • Radford
      • Christiansburg/Blacksburg
      • Patrick County
      • Vinton
      • Roanoke
      • Salem
      • Craig County
  • National News
  • About Us
  • Submit Content
  • Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • Login
  • My account