Jan. 24 (UPI) –The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 1,000 points in trading early Monday afternoon as stocks fell across all three indexes.
While the Dow lost nearly 3% just after noon, the Nasdaq Composite tumbled more than 4.4% or more than 600 points, and the S&P 500 fell more than 160 points, or more than 3.6%.
Investors are anticipating fourth-quarter earnings reports from big tech companies coming Tuesday and the Fed’s decision on interest rates expected Wednesday, Forbes reported.
The losses were across the board Monday afternoon, with Ford Motors losing more than 8%, Twitter about 7.2% and Macy’s 7%.
The losses started early with the Dow tumbling 830 points, or 2.4%, in morning trading, extending its losing streak to seven days. The S&P 500 lost 3.1% in morning trading while the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.6%.
“What had initially been a stimulus withdrawal-driven decline morphed last week to include earnings jitters,” Adam Crisafulli, founder of Vital Knowledge, said, according to CNBC. “So investors are now worried not just about the multiple placed on earnings, but the EPS (earnings-per-share) forecasts themselves.”
Inflation, the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates, the start to fourth-quarter earnings reports and tensions in Ukraine were among factors driving Monday’s drop. Investment bankers warned that uncertainty could persist.
Michael Wilson of Morgan Stanley told investors to “hunker down for a few more months,” adding that rate hikes could affect consumer goods, apparel and housing-related stocks.
“Winter is here and the damage under the surface has been enormous and even catastrophic for many individual stocks,” he said. “The Fed is serious about fighting inflation, and it’s unlikely that it will be turning dovish anytime soon given the seriousness of these economic threats and the political support to take action.”
