U.S. stocks extended a streak of back-and-forth motion in the early trade Thursday after the Federal Reserve’s latest policy announcement and subsequent remarks from Chair Jerome Powell sent markets into disarray.
The benchmark S&P 500 slipped just below breakeven at the open, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average teetered 0.1% above the flatline. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.2%. The moves follow a sell-off that saw the S&P 500 and Dow each shed around 1.7% and the Nasdaq tumble 1.8%.
The losses marked the S&P 500’s 29th decline this year between 1% and 2% – the most since 2008, which had 34 such declines for the index, per data from Compound Advisors.
In economic data, initial jobless claims edged up to 213,000 in the week ended Sept. 17 from a downwardly revised 208,000 the prior week — the lowest since May, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists called for 217,000 claims, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Elsewhere in major moves in the aftermath of the Fed’s decision, the rate-sensitive 2-year Treasury note held near 4.1%, the highest since 2007, while the 10-year remained near 3.5%, its highest level since 2011.
On Wednesday, U.S. central bank officials raised interest rates by 75 basis points for a third straight time, bringing the federal funds rate to a new range of 3.0% to 3.25% from a current range between 2.25% and 2.5%.
Policymakers also expect to lift rates higher than before and maintain that level, projecting the fed funds rate rising to 4.4% by the end of this year and 4.6% by the end of 2023. That’s up from 3.4% for this year and 3.8% previously.
“With the new rate projections, the Fed is engineering a hard landing – a soft landing is almost out of the question,” Principal Global Investors Chief Global Strategist Seema Shah said. “Powell’s admission that there will be below-trend growth for a period should be translated as central bank speak for ‘recession.’”
In corporate news, shares of Lennar (LEN) rose nearly 2% even as the homebuilder said its third quarter results were impacted by higher rates.
KB Home (KBH) was also a mover after the company cited headwinds from ongoing supply chain constraints and warned that those issues may impact fourth quarter results. Shares fell nearly 4% at open.
On the earnings docket Thursday are Costco (COST), Darden Restaurants (DRI), FactSet (FDS), and FedEx (FDX), which issued a pre-results warnings last week about the possibility of a global recession that sent its stock spiraling in the worst day on record for the shipping giant.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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