Wall Street slumps, erasing a big rally from a day earlier

NEW YORK: Wall Street is shiting into reverse on Thursday, giving up much of the big gains it made a day earlier on relief that the Federal Reserve wouldn’t be as aggressive as some feared in raising interest rates to fight inflation.

The sharp reversal follows the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to raise its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point as it tries to tackle persistently high inflation. The central bank also reassured investors that it wasn’t considering even bigger rate hikes in the coming months.

The S&P 500 fell 2.6% as of 10:23 a.m. Eastern. The benchmark index climbed 3% on Wednesday for its best day since May 2020.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 691 points, or 2%, to 33,370 and the Nasdaq fell 3.7%.

Every major index still remains on track for solid weekly gains following Wednesday’s rally.

Bond yields rose significantly. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.03% from 2.92% late Wednesday, reaching its highest levels since late 2018.

Technology companies had some of the biggest losses and weighed down the broader market, in a reversal from the solid gains they made a day earlier. Apple fell 3.4% and Microsot fell 3.9%.

Internet retail giant Amazon slumped 6.4% and Google’s parent company fell 4.3%.

Energy stocks held up beter than the rest of the market as US crude oil prices rose 1.4%. Energy markets remain volatile as the conflict in Ukraine continues and demand remains high amid tight supplies of oil. European governments are trying to replace energy supplies from Russia and are considering an embargo. OPEC and allied oil-producing countries decided Thursday to gradually increase the flows of crude they send to the world.

Higher oil and gas prices have been contributing to the uncertainties weighing on investors as they try to assess how inflation will ultimately impact businesses, consumer activity and overall economic growth.

The Fed’s aggressive shit to raise interest rates has investors worrying about whether it can pull off the delicate dance to slow the economy enough to halt high inflation but not so much as to cause a downturn. The pace and size of interest rate increases is being scrutinized.

The latest move by the Fed to raise interest rates by a half-percentage point had been widely expected. Markets steadied this week ahead of the policy update, but Wall Street was concerned the Fed might elect to raise rates by three-quarters of a percentage point in the months ahead. Fed Chair Jerome Powell eased those concerns, saying the central bank is “not actively considering” such an increase.

The central bank also announced that it will start reducing its huge $9 trillion balance sheet, which consists mainly of Treasury and mortgage bonds, starting June 1.

The Bank of England on Thursday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest level in 13 years, its fourth rate hike since December as U.K. inflation runs at 30-year highs.

The latest corporate earnings reports are also being closely watched by investors trying to get a better picture of inflation’s impact on the economy. Cereal maker Kellogg rose 4.1% and energy company Conocophillips rose 1.7% after reporting encouraging financial results. Etsy stumbled 15.5% after giving a weak forecast.

Twiter rose 3.6% ater Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had secured more backing for his bid to take over the company.

The Nasdaq plunged 4.6% and the other major indexes tumbled on Thursday, as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s less hawkish tone failed to ease investor expectations of bigger interest rate hikes this year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq looked set to erase all of its gains in the previous session, with Googleparent Alphabet Inc , Apple Inc, Microsot Corp, Meta Plaforms, Tesla Inc and Amazon.com falling between 4.5% and 6.5%.

All of the 11 major S&P sectors traded lower, with consumer discretionary sector falling close to 5%.

The benchmark S&P 500 index recorded its biggest one-day percentage gain in nearly two years on Wednesday ater the Fed raised interest rate by half a percentage point as expected and said it would begin shrinking its $9 trillion asset porfolio next month in an effort to further lower inflation.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell explicitly ruled out raising rates by 75 basis points in a coming meeting, calming nerves over fears of aggressive policy tightening.

However, on Thursday, traders saw a 75% chance of a 75 basis point hike by the Fed at its June 15 meeting.