Aug. 29 (UPI) — U.S. markets declined on Monday following a sharp decline Friday as investors face concern about the Federal Reserve‘s next moves.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day down 184.41 points, or 0.57%, after a seesaw session that saw it fall by as many as 300 points before briefly turning positive. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 fell 0.67% and the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.02%.
Monday’s drop came after markets plunged Friday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank will keep hiking interest rates until inflation returns to a healthy level. He made the comments at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.
The Dow fell 1,008.38 points following the speech.
Powell’s comments impacted the bond market with the benchmark 10-year treasury not holding above 3.1% Monday while the 2-year yield surpassed 3.4%, reaching its highest level since 2007 earlier in the day.
“Chair Powell’s speech was a good reminder that 2-year treasury yields are more important to equity markets than whether the FOMC moves by 50 or 75 basis points at upcoming meetings,” DataTrek’s Nicholas Colas said in a note Monday.
Technology was the worst performing sector on the S&P 500 as tech stocks fell in response to rising rates.
Salesforce stock fell 3.07% and 3M stock fell 2.09% to drag the Dow lower, but Walmart rose 0.97% and Chevron gained 0.77% to help mitigate the losses.
In addition to more comments from the Fed, investors are also awaiting the end of corporate earnings season.
Major companies set to report earnings this week include Best Buy, HP, Big Lots, Chewy, Lululemon Athletica and Broadcom.
