US markets fell sharply on Thursday in Wall Street’s worst day since 2020, eviscerating all the gains from the previous day, after the US Federal Reserve announced plans to raise the key interest rate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 1,000 points, or 3.1%, marking its worst daily percentage drop since October 28, 2020. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 shed 153 points, or 3.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 5%, its worst daily percentage fall since June 11, 2020.
Technology stocks slumped with Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Tesla and Amazon all falling between 4.3% and 8.3%.
On Wednesday, the Dow surged 2.8%, while the S&P 500 soared 3% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 3.2%. The S&P 500’s gain was the largest one-day advance since May 18, 2020.
“I’ve been in the markets for 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and chief strategist for Quill Intelligence, a Wall Street and Federal Reserve research firm told CNN. “It’s violent not just volatile.”
The US central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point as expected on Wednesday in an effort to tackle soaring inflation. The cost of living in the country is on the rise, driven by surging energy prices as a result of Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia, a major energy exporter.
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