US Market extends losses on hawkish Fed outlook

The US stock market finished session firmly in negative territory on Tuesday, 30 August 2022, registering third consecutive day of selloff, as investor sentiment remained sour amid lingering concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the impact further rate hikes will have on the economy. Meanwhile, sentiments further soured after robust US labor demand and consumer confidence data added to the case for sharp interest-rate hikes to tackle inflation.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index dropped 308.12 points, or 0.96%, to 31,790.87. The S&P500 index was down 44.45 points, or 1.1%, to 3,986.16. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index decreased by 134.53 points, or 1.12%, to 11,883.14.

Stocks fell on the prospect of continued aggressive Federal Reserve monetary tightening. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium on last Friday, were more hawkish than investors would have liked, signalling the Fed is likely to continue raising interest rates aggressively and maintain rates at a high level for an extended period.

Fed officials again stressed their commitment to defeating inflation while remaining vague on how big their policy move will be next month. New York Fed chief John Williams said rates will need to be held in restrictive territory for some time, adding that this meant through 2023, the latest official to push back on financial-market expectations of cuts later next year.

Shares of energy companies saw substantial weakness with a steep drop by the price of crude oil. Substantial weakness was also visible among steel stocks. Gold, computer hardware and transportation stocks also saw considerable weakness.

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing consumer confidence index jumped to 103.2 in August from a downwardly revised 95.3 in July.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed the number of job openings was little changed at 11.2 million on the last business day of July.

Among Indian ADR, Dr Reddy's Labs added 0.83% to $52.41, Azure Power Global fell 26.32% to $4.31. WNS Holdings shed 0.7% to $84.83, and Wipro was down 0.2% to $5.02. HDFC Bank added 1.05% to $61.34, and INFOSYS was up 0.2% at $18.43. Tata Motors added 1.4% to $28.99 and ICICI Bank added 2.2% to $21.94.

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