Stock Market Plunges To New Lows As This Leading Sector Sells Off

It didn’t take long for the bears to come off their one-day break. After surging Wednesday, the stock market indexes went right back to heavy losses, as the leading energy sector saw some of the worst action.

X

Indexes gapped down at the open and made new lows for the year. At 10:08 a.m. ET, the Nasdaq composite was down 3.6%, the S&P 500 3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 2.4%.

Stock Market Decliners Far Outweigh Gainers

Volume rose on the NYSE and Nasdaq compared with the same time on Wednesday. Decliners led advancers by an 11-to-2 ratio on the Nasdaq and by abut 15-to-1 on the NYSE.

The stock market Wednesday jumped after the Federal Reserve, as expected, raised the benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a point. It was the largest increase since 1994, and showed the Fed is not holding back in trying to put down 40-year high inflation.

The central bank continues to also cut its balance sheet, which is another form of tightening. Wednesday’s move raised the overnight interbank lending rate to a target range of 1.5%-1.75%. Policymakers now expect it to climb to 3.8% this year.

Earlier today, the Bank of England raised its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point for the fifth straight time. The bank said larger increases may be needed.

The London FTSE 100 index plunged 2.7% in afternoon trading. The Paris CAC 40 lost 2.2%, and the German DAX index was down 2.8%.

In Asia, the Tokyo Nikkei fell 0.4%, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% and the Hong Kong Hang Seng lost 2.2%.

Jobless claims eased to 229,000 from a revised 232,000 the previous week. The Econoday survey of economists had expected 220,000 claims. The four-week…