U.S. Stocks Close Lower: S&P 500 Falls 1.1% in Its Worst Day Since July as Tech Slides and the Fed's Beige Book Carries a Stagflationary Flavor
U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday, October 14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48 points, or 0.1%; the S&P 500 fell 1.1%; and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.9%. According to Barron's, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both marked their worst day since July, with technology stocks leading the decline and a major semiconductor ETF falling for a seventh straight session.
The September Consumer Price Index was the main trigger. CPI rose 3.7% from a year earlier, above the 3.6% economists had expected, while core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 2.6%, also hotter than forecast. Bond yields spiked after the release as traders lifted bets on a Federal Reserve rate increase later this month. CME FedWatch showed traders pricing roughly a 37% chance of a hike at the October 28 meeting, up from about 22% before the data.
Markets also weighed the Fed's Beige Book, released Wednesday afternoon. An analyst at Rosenberg Research wrote that the report had a "stagflationary flavor": inflation remains a concern, wage growth appears little changed from September, and overall labor market sentiment is weaker. The 10-year Treasury yield, which had soared to 5.33% after the CPI report, pulled back to around 5.20% near the close.
Healthcare was the best-performing of the S&P 500's 11 sectors, rising 1.8%, and consumer staples also gained, cushioning the Dow. Bank earnings diverged: Morgan Stanley beat third-quarter profit estimates on strong equity trading, while Bank of America's lackluster results and a large fine weighed on its shares. Investors next turn to the September Producer Price Index, due Thursday morning.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于纽约市的纽约证券交易所大楼（资料图）。Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0
