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CNN
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Good vibes on Wall Street are fading fast: US slumps again on Friday when investors are dealing with a bad economy.
The Dow finished the day down 282 points, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 was down 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was 1% lower.
Sales were broad, but the real estate and on-demand consumer sectors were hardest hit, down more than 3% and 1.8%, respectively.
Is the Fed to blame? Sentiment on Wall Street can change on a dime, and this week is proof of that: The Dow is upside down 1,050 points since the Federal Reserve’s sullen policy update Wednesday at 2:00 pm ET.
CNN Business’ Fear and Greed Index, a measure of market sentiment, finally dived into “Fear” on Friday. The market has been in “Greed” mode for weeks.
Stocks rose this month on weaker-than-expected inflation and a series of stronger-than-expected reports on the economy. broad economy and job market. Investors were hopeful that the Federal Reserve could slow its historic pace of rate hikes and correct itself next year before inflation plunged the economy into a recession.
The excitement continued until Fed Chairman Jerome Powell smashed the Wall Street party on Wednesday with some grim news: Economists at the Fed believe the US gross domestic product, the largest measure of the American economy, will barely grow next year.
And they predict the US unemployment rate will rise to 4.6% by the end of 2023, which means roughly 1.6 million more Americans will be unemployed.
Compound fears from these Fed forecasts were worse than expected retail sales Thursday’s report that caused stocks to plummet. The Dow lost 765 points, or 2.3%, on Thursday, the index’s worst day in three months. The S&P 500 fell 2.5% and the Nasdaq tumbled 3.2%, experiencing their worst day in a month.
Now, economists at Moody’s Analytics predict that the American economy will grow at a mere 1.9% annualized rate in the fourth quarter, below its previous forecast of 2.7%. Weak manufacturing and retail reports startled Moody’s analysts, who cut their 2023 GDP forecast to just 0.9%, well below the 2022 forecast of 1.9%.
“This leaves little room for anything to go wrong,” Moody’s economist Matt Colyar wrote in an analysis.
It doesn’t help stocks: December. Many traders are on holiday, volume is low and small movements can be exacerbated.
As my colleague Matt Egan points out, the market can be in a lose-lose situation. Good economic news turned out to be bad news for investors because the Fed is trying to cool the economy as part of its anti-inflation campaign. But bad economic news is also bad for investors and everyone else because it increases the risk of recession.
Adobe
(ADBE) and Facebook parent company Meta are the top earners in the market today, 3% and 2.8% increase, respectively. Adobe
(ADBE) Stocks rose after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and guidance. Meta, still down nearly 65% for the year, saw a tick after JPMorgan neutralized the company’s stock from excess weight.
– CNN’s Nicole Goodkind and Matt Egan Contributors to this report
