Dow Sheds 400 Points After Fed's Bullard Signals Rate Hikes Soon

Stocks fell for a fourth day, extending a bout of volatility ignited by surprise hawkishness at the Federal Reserve. Commodities such as copper slumped while the dollar touched a two-month high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 400 points, and was on pace for its worst week since January as investors steppred back from trades tied to expectations for hot economic growth and inflation.

Even safe harbor big cash-spewing technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft were lower, pushing the Nasdaq 100 down from a record high. Yields on shorter-maturity Treasuries jumped after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on CNBC that the central bank has started discussing scaling back the pace of pandemic bond-buying.

“The reverse rotation is continuing,” said Giorgio Caputo, senior fund manager at J O Hambro Capital Management. “At a certain point, a hawkish Fed isn’t good for anyone, even technology shares.”

Markets that are clearly benefiting from the reopening are seeing a pullback, with copper on course for its worst week since the start of the pandemic.

Oil was poised for a fourth straight weekly gain, even after slipping from the highest levels since 2018. An advance in the dollar this week has made commodities that are priced in the U.S. currency more expensive, driving declines across the complex. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose for a sixth trading session.

Some volatility may be possible later when options and futures on indexes and equities expire, an event known as “triple witching.”

European shares fell the most in a month, with the longest streak of gains since 1999 brought up short by the Fed’s hawkish tilt at Wednesday’s policy meeting.

Elsewhere, some of the biggest gainers in the hottest corner of the cryptocurrency world tumbled back to earth. So-called DeFi, or decentralized finance, tokens such as Krill, Arqma and Catge coin slumped more than 60%, according to prices on CoinMarketCap.com.

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, more than any closing loss since May 12 as of 12:56 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%, falling for the fifth straight day, the longest losing streak since Jan. 27
• The MSCI World index fell 1%, more than any closing loss since May 12

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%, climbing for the sixth straight day, the longest winning streak since March 23, 2020
• The euro fell 0.3% to the lowest since April 7
• The British pound slipped 0.7%, more than any closing loss since April 30
• The Japanese yen was little changed at 110.25 per dollar

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 1.46%
• Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.20%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.75%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $71.65 a barrel
• Gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,772.70 an ounce