The major US stock indices are closing lower and near lows for the day as traders react to the more hawkish Fed rate projections. The Fed now sees a end of year rate of 4.4% which is higher than the markets expectations going into the report. They also see the terminal rate at 4.6% in 2023.
That is a lot of headwinds for companies to work through especially since the USD is strong and companies will likely still have to deal with other constraints including the potential for less demand as the Fed counteracts inflation risk by encouraging unemployment to move higher, and stalling the consumer demand.
The final numbers are showing:
- Dow down -522.45 points or -1.7% at 30183.79
- S&P down -66 points ro -1.71% at 3789.94
- Nasdaq down -204.85 or -1.79% at 11220.20
- Russell 2000 down -25.34 points or -1.42% at 1762.15.
All 11 sectors of the S&P moved lower led by
- consumer discretionary -2.37%
- telecommunication down -2.3%
- materials down -2.2%
The best of the losers today included:
- consumer staples at -0.34%
- industrials -1.34%
- utilities -1.38%
