Broad Selloff Drags Indexes to New Lows In the Year

Barry Adams
09 May, 2022
New York City

U.S. major indexes fell to new lows in the year as jittery investors stayed away from tech stocks. 

All sectors participated in today's losses led by larger declines in tech stocks. 

The S&P 500 dropped 3.2% to 3,991.28 and the Nasdaq Composite index declined 4.3% to11,623.25 . 

Texas crude oil fell 6.5% or $7.13 to $102.64 a barrel and Brent oil fell 6% to $105.34. Natural gas plunged 12% to $7.03 per unit. 

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds eased to 3.03%. 

Market indexes opened sharply lower and stayed lower near the lows except making one brief attempt to cut losses at mid-day. However, indexes lacking support quickly began the descent. 

The S&P 500 index fell below 4,000 for the first-time in more than a year.

For the year, the Nasdaq index is down 27% and the S&P 500 index is down 16.8%. 

Investors are awaiting the consumer price data on Wednesday and wholesale price data on Thursday. 

Nervous investors are worried that the Fed is likely to lag the fast rising inflation and the elevated prices will seep in the economy through a permanent increase in wages. 

Tech stocks took the brunt of selling and Apple fell 3.5%, Microsoft declined 4%, Tesla plunged 9.9%, Amazon declined 4%, Meta Platforms decreased 3.7%, and Google parent Alphabet dropped 3%. 

Banks also fell on the worries that the rising interest rates may dampen economic activities. 

JPMorgan and Wells Fargo dropped 2%, Citigroup, Regions Financial, and Bank of America declined 3%.  

Transportation stocks also plunged. American Airlines declined nearly 8%, Delta Air plunged 7% and Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern declined more than 2%. 

Energy sector also witnessed broad losses. Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp dropped more than 7%. Schlumberger plunged 11%. 

Bitcoin, the crypto currency continued its slide after reaching as high as $40,000 last month and $69,000 in June 2021. 

The crypto currency has fallen 15% in the previous week and declined further 5% today to $32,000 and has plunged more than 50% from its peak $69,000 in July 2021.