US stock futures fell Wednesday morning to add to losses incurred on Tuesday, as investors remained focused on growing indications of slowing economic growth in the United States.
Contracts on the S&P 500 fell about 0.2% on Wednesday morning after a 2% drop in the index the previous day. Dow futures slipped, Nasdaq futures fell about 0.3% as tech stocks continued to pressure.
Bitcoin is also down, with prices briefly dropping below $20,000. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose above $112 a barrel for the first time in two weeks, while the 10-year Treasury yield fell below 3.2%.
The latest bout of volatility in the markets came amid renewed concerns about the impact of inflation on the growth prospects of the US economy. A new report this week showed a drop in US consumer confidence to a 16-month low and a Deterioration in the short-term outlook to the lowest level in 9 yearsraising concerns that consumers will cut back on spending in anticipation of persistently high prices.
Looking at these and other recent reports, some Federal Reserve officials have pointed to the risk that inflation expectations will become entrenched among consumers, causing the central bank to maintain its hawkish stance for the time being.
“The fact that outstanding prices for gasoline and food are still rising suggests that there is some risk that long-term inflation expectations for households and businesses will continue to rise,” said Cleveland Fed President Loretta Meester. He said in a statement Wednesday.
She suggested that she would support another Raising the interest rate by 75 basis points In July if economic conditions look similar by next month’s Federal Reserve meeting, echoing Other officials recently supported such a high. Markets are currently pricing in over 80% probability that the rate will eventually rise by 75 basis points in July, According to data from CME Group.
This expectation of a series of larger-than-normal interest rate increases has remained a pressure point on technology stocks in particular, which are highly valued on prospects for future earnings growth. The Nasdaq Composite is still in a bear market, down 28.5% year-to-date, and both the S&P 500’s high-tech IT and telecoms sectors have lagged behind the broader index.
“Inflation concerns remain, the Fed will have to step in more aggressively and raise interest rates more, which is very bad for tech stocks,” Opimas CEO Octavio Marenzi told Yahoo Finance Live on Tuesday. “The Fed hasn’t finished raising rates by any stretch of the imagination…I don’t expect any shift anytime soon here. I think this is a bear market that has some legs.”
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Pinterest (pins) Shares rose during pre-market trading after the company said Google and PayPal CEO Bill Reddy will replace Pinterest founder Ben Silberman as CEO of the social media platform. Analysts have suggested that Ready’s experience indicates that it may help bolster Pinterest’s expansion plans to build shopping capabilities on its platform.
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new (NIO) Stocks fell Wednesday morning to extend losses after short selling company Grizzly Research released a report alleging the electric car maker was engaged in “accounting cheats” to achieve financial goals. Nio replied with statement He said that the report “is baseless and contains many errors.”
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upstart holding (UPST) Shares fell sharply Wednesday morning after Morgan Stanley cut the stock to Underweight from Equal-Weight and lowered the company’s price target to $19 per share from $88 per share, according to Bloomberg. Morgan Stanley has suggested that the consumer lending platform will be squeezed by the cyclical nature of the business.
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
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