Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Stocks tumbled early Monday, with the next Fed meeting on deck this week. Earnings reports from Microsoft and Apple are also due this week. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are coming off their worst weeks since March 2020. US stocks tumbled again on Monday, deepening losses early in 2022, as investors brace for the Federal Reserve to sharply tighten monetary policy to tame hot inflation while major tech companies report earnings this week.
Monday’s losses come after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite last week notched their worst weeks since March 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak was battering global financial markets. The S&P 500 last week fell nearly 6% and the Nasdaq tumbled by nearly 8%.
Here’s where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Monday:
S&P 500: 4,332.40, down 1.49%Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,868.99, down 1.16% (396.38 points)Nasdaq Composite: 13,501.30, down 1.94%This Wednesday, the Fed will release its first policy decision of the year. And with inflation near 40-year highs, the central bank is set to ramp up interest rates soon and draw back further on its emergency, monetary response to the pandemic.
Traders expect the Fed to increase rates four times this year, starting in March with a 25-basis-point increase. But some analysts believe policymakers could move even more quickly. Goldman Sachs economists said the Fed may hike rates at every meeting from March — or seven increases in total.
The next wave of big tech earnings is on deck, with Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple each set to report this week.
Around the market, the crypto market shrank after another $350 billion was wiped out over the weekend, with bitcoin at a six-month low.
Oil prices fell. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 1.6% to $83.78 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, lost 1.3%, at $86.72.
Gold edged up 0.3% to $1,836.70 per ounce. The 10-year yield fell 4 basis points, at 1.716%.
Bitcoin sank 8.2% to $33,336.60.