S&P 500 Slips as Rate Hike Fears Persist

© Reuters

By Yasin Ebrahim

AiVIF.com -- The S&P 500 slipped Wednesday after struggling to hold early-day gains as fears about aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes continued to keep investors on the sidelines.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.7%, or 208 points, the Nasdaq was down 0.3%.

Big tech traded mix after retreating from session highs as rate hike fears persisted, pushing up Treasury yields and souring investor sentiment on growth sectors of the market.

The United States 2-Year, which is sensitive to Fed rate hikes, continued to flirt with 14-year highs.

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said Wednesday the Fed would need to lift the "fed funds rate up to somewhat above 4 percent by early next year and hold it there."

The recent remarks from Fed members that followed Powell’s hawkish commentary last week has pushed the odds of a 75-basis-point rate hike at the September meeting to 70%, according to AiVIF.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) fell more than 1% to weigh on semiconductor stocks after the chipmaker was reportedly sued by ARM Holdings (LON:ARM) for alleged licensing and trademark violations.

Materials, meanwhile, were also under pressure as commodity prices slipped on fresh worries about the impact of lockdowns in China on global growth after key cities including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dalian saw fresh Covid-19 outbreaks.

Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE:NEM) and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) fell more than 2%, while The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) slipped nearly 5% after reporting a fall in potash sales for July.

Energy added to its slump from a day earlier, as oil prices fell as fears about the impact of slowing global growth on the energy demand offset positive data showing weekly U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly fell last week.

On the earnings front, HP (NYSE:HPQ) fell 7% after reporting weaker than expected revenue as slowing PC sales weighed on performance.

Chewy's (NYSE:CHWY) warnings of slowing pet products demand and softer guidance sent it shares sliding more than 7%.

In meme-stock related news, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) cratered nearly 21% after delivering a strategic update that included plans to cut jobs, reduce its owned brands and sell an undefined amount of stock to turnaround its business.

The latest wobble has pushed the broader market into “moderately oversold territory,” Janney Montgomery Scott said in a note, and paves the way for “potential counter-trend rally efforts as early as this week.”