US markets end in red on Wednesday

20 Jan 2022 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday amid rising Treasury yields and worries over inflation and looming interest rate hikes after US Treasury yields hit fresh two-year highs amid Fed rate hike expectations. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.84%, continuing a sharp increase this year and pressuring the tech sector particularly hard. The Nasdaq Composite fell, bringing its decline from its November high to more than 10% as investors continue to dump tech shares as interest rates spike to start the new year. Nasdaq’s pullback from its November high has been lead by growth stocks whose valuations ballooned during the pandemic. Shares of Peloton are off more than 80% from their highs. Zoom Video has shed more than 70%. Moderna, DocuSign and Paypal are all down more than 40% from their highs.

On the economic data front, new residential construction in the US unexpectedly saw a notable increase in the month of December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The report said housing starts jumped 1.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.702 million in December from a revised rate of 1.678 million in November. Street had expected housing starts to drop to a rate of 1.650 million from the 1.679 million originally reported for the previous month. The Commerce Department also said building permits spiked by 9.1 percent to an annual rate of 1.873 million from a revised rate of 1.717 million in November. Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to drop to a rate of 1.701 million from the 1.712 million originally reported for the previous month.

Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 339.82 points or 0.96 percent to 35,028.65, Nasdaq fell 166.64 points or 1.15 percent to 14,340.25 and S&P 500 was down by 44.35 points or 0.97 percent to 4,532.76.

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