U.S. stocks mark 3rd losing week in last 4

Banks led another pullback for stocks Friday on Wall Street, as the market racked up its third losing week in the last four.

The S&P 500 fell 1 percent, with three-quarters of the companies in the benchmark index closing lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.1 percent. The indexes initially moved higher in choppy trading before settling into their latest losses.

After pushing the S&P 500 to a record high last week, investors have been taking money off the table as the Federal Reserve moves to dial back stimulus and fight inflation.

The Federal Reserve signaled on Wednesday that it plans to speed up its reduction in monthly bond purchases that have helped keep interest rates low.

The shift in policy sets the stage for the Fed to begin raising rates sometime next year.

“The cat is kind of out of the bag now and it seems like inflation is something that’s going to be more persistent in 2022,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management.

The S&P 500 fell 48.03 points to 4,620.64. The index is now about 2 percent below its all-time high set last Friday and is up 23 percent so far this year. The Nasdaq slipped 10.75 points to 15,169.68. Both indexes have posted losses in three of the last four weeks.

The Dow dropped 532.20 points to 35,365.44.

Small company stocks bucked the broader market slide. The Russell 2000 index picked up 21.48 points, or 1 percent, to 2,173.93.

Inflation has been a growing concern throughout 2021. Higher raw materials costs and supply chain problems have been raising overall costs for businesses, which have raised prices on goods to offset the impact.

Consumers have so far absorbed those price increases, but they are facing persistent pressure from rising prices and that could eventually prompt a pullback in spending. Any pullback in spending could then crimp economic growth.

Investors initially welcomed word of the Fed’s policy pivot toward fighting inflation on Wednesday. It was the only day this week that the broader market notched gains. Traders’ optimism appeared to dim again by Thursday with sell-off led by technology companies that erased nearly all of the market’s gains from a day earlier.

The slide in technology sector stocks continued Friday. Oracle fell 6.4 percent, while Nvidia dropped 2.1 percent.