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The main indicators on Wall Street were set to open lower on Wednesday after a sharp rally in stocks of Megacup growth in the previous session, which was uncomfortable with fears of aggressive monetary tightening and slowing economic growth.
Rate-sensitive Big Tech and growth companies such as Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc., Google Owners – Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms, Tesla Inc and Amazon.com fall between 0.6% and 2.3% in premarket trading.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed up more than 2% in the previous session as strong April retail sales eased concerns about a slowdown in economic growth.
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Tuesday’s rally followed weeks of selling in the U.S. stock market that saw the S&P 500 come close to confirming a bear market from a record close on January 3 last week.
Yields hit the US 10-year Treasury benchmark 3%, the highest in a week.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that the US Federal Reserve would continue to “push” the rate hike until it sees inflation come down in a “transparent and credible way”, if not, it will not hesitate to move more aggressively. Will happen
Traders are set to raise interest rates by 50 basis points by the Fed in June and July.
“The market does not like uncertainty and it is unclear at this time how far the Fed will go in controlling inflation. Until we have clarity, the markets are going to be volatile, “said Brooke May, managing partner of Evans May Wealth in Indianapolis.
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“In addition to the high corporate profits, retail spending will eat up and the market is just trying to digest it.”
Target Corporation’s first-quarter profit has halved and retailers have warned of a big margin injury due to rising fuel and freight costs, with its shares sliding 24.1%.
Shares of other retailers such as Gap Inc, Kohl’s Corp, Nordstrom Inc, Costco, Best Buy, Macy’s Inc and Dollar General Corp fell 4.1% to 6.4%.
Uncertainty over Fed policy measures has recently weighed on markets, which have already been relieved of concerns about the global economic downturn due to the Ukraine conflict, rising inflation, prolonged supply chain snarls and an epidemic-related lockdown in China.
The S&P 500 is down 14.2% so far in 2022 and the Nasdaq is down more than 23%, hit by rising stocks.
At 8:27 am ET, the Dow e-minis was down 154 points or 0.47%, the S&P 500 e-minis was down 26.5 points, or 0.65%, and the Nasdaq 100 e-minis was down 119 points or 0.95%.
Lowe’s Cos Inc. fell 3.8% after reporting expected-to-expected declines in same-store sales, as demand for its home improvement equipment and construction materials fell from the height of the epidemic. (Reporting by Amrita Khandekar and Devik Jain in Bangalore; Editing by Shaunak Dasgupta)