Wall Street Ends Lower as Weak Economic Data Fuels Recession Fears

Armfalcon.com, JAKARTA — Wall Street closed lower Tuesday (4/4/2023) local time after evidence of a cooling economy exacerbated fears that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to rein in decades of high inflation could lead to a deep downturn. All three major indexes fell as data showed US job vacancies in February fell to their lowest in nearly two years, indicating that the labor market was cooling, while factory orders fell for the second month in a row.

“The number of job openings is down, which makes people worry that hiring is going too slowly, and that’s going to be bad for the economy. It’s giving rise to recession fears,” said Sal Bruno, chief investment officer at IndexIQ in New York.

Bank shares took a hit after JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO Jaime Dimon warned in a letter to shareholders that the US banking crisis was unfolding and its effects would be felt for years.

Shares of Bank of America and Wells Fargo & Co fell more than 2 percent, and the S&P 500 bank index fell 1.9 percent.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven fell, led lower by industry, down 2.25 percent, followed by a 1.72 percent loss in energy.

The S&P 500 fell 0.58 percent to end the session at 4,100.68 points, closing lower for the first time in a week.

The Nasdaq fell 0.52 percent to 12,126.33 points. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.59 percent to 33,403.04 points.

Caterpillar Inc., which is seen as the industry sector leader, fell 5.4 percent. Chipmaker heavyweight Nvidia lost 1.8 percent, more than any other stock on the S&P 500 decline.

source : Reuters