NEW YORK — Stocks closed broadly lower on Wall Street Thursday as stronger-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy stired concerns about interest rates staying high.
The S&P 500 fell 1.4% after havingactually been down as much as 2.9% earlier in the day. The pullback brings Wall Street’s primary step of health back to a loss of almost 20% for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1% and the Nasdaq closed 2.2% lower.
The selling was broad, with all 11 market sectors in the S&P 500 ending up in the red. Technology stocks were the mostsignificant drag on the criteria index. Chipmaker Nvidia plunged 7%.
Usually, great information on the economy would be favorable for markets, especially when concerns are high about a possible economicdownturn looming. But Thursday’s reports recommended the Federal Reserve might undoubtedly follow through on its promise to keep treking interest rates and to hold them at a high level for a while in order to get inflation under control.
The Fed is especially anxious about a still-strong task market offering more oxygen to inflation, which hasactually come down a bit in current months however stays close to its greatest level in years. One report on Thursday suggested companies laid off less employees last week than anticipated, while a different report revealed that the broad U.S. economy grew more highly throughout the summertime than projection.
The reports required a tip of a longstanding mantra on Wall Street: Don’t battle the Fed. When it’s raising interest rates, the Fed is purposefully slowing the economy and increasing the dangers of a prospective economiccrisis. Higher rates likewise drag down on costs for stocks and other financialinvestments.
High-growth innovation stocks haveactually taken some of the year’s worst strikes since they’re seen as some of the most susceptible to ris