Wall Street opened lower on Tuesday, dragged down by weak earnings reports from some of the biggest names in corporate America.
The S&P 500 fell 29 points, or 0.7%, to 3,927 in early trading, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 1%.
Walmart shares fall after the nation’s largest retailer lowered its profit forecast and said rising inflation in basics like food is driving shoppers down. GM fell 4% after it said a shortage of computer chips and parts hampered factory output in the second quarter.
Investors are focused this week on what appears to be another sharp hike in interest rates by the Federal Reserve. The central bank is expected to announce a rate hike of up to three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday, triple the usual margin, as the Fed continues an aggressive push to curb four-decade high inflation. That would put the Fed’s benchmark rate in a range of 2.25% to 2.5%, the highest since 2018 before the coronavirus pandemic.
US small business owners fear recession, survey shows
03:41
US inflation has accelerated to 9.1%, its highest since 1981. The US economy is slowing, but healthy hiring shows it is not in recession, the secretary said on Sunday of the Treasury, Janet Yellen. Fed officials who publicly support a rate hike also cite a strong labor market as evidence that the economy can withstand higher borrowing costs.
On Thursday, the Commerce Department is due to release its estimate of US economic growth for the three months ending in June. Some forecasters expect a second quarter of contraction after output fell 1.6% in the three months to March.
- In:
- Hong Kong
- Economy
- Stock Market
- Gas prices
- inflation
- china
- Coronavirus
- asia
Add Comment