US stocks plunged on Friday, with the Dow Jones falling nearly 1,000 points as investors grappled with new comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell …
US stocks plunged on Friday, with the Dow Jones falling nearly 1,000 points as investors grappled with new comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that indicate bigger interest rate hikes ahead. “I would say 50 basis points will be on the table for the May meeting,” Powell said at an IMF debate on Thursday, as the Fed struggles to contain an inflationary rate that has surged to 40-year highs in recent months. Powell’s warming to the idea of a 50-basis-point rate hike at its next meeting in May has some analysts now calling for a 75-basis-point increase. “75bps is the new 25bps,” Bank of America said in a Friday note, arguing that an interest rate shock is likely. For the week, the Dow finished down 1.85%, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.7%, and the Nasdaq crashed 3.
