US markets extend previous session’s losses on Friday

17 Dec 2022 Evaluate

Extending their previous session’s losses, the US markets settled lower for third straight session on Friday amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy. The Fed's hawkish tone in Wednesday's monetary policy announcement has added to worries about the central bank's aggressive rate hikes tipping the economy into a recession. While inflation has recently shown signs of slowing, the Fed signaled it plans to continue raising interest rates next year. A recent batch of disappointing economic data has led to fears the Fed's fight against inflation is already taking its toll on the economy. Investors are looking ahead to the Commerce Department’s report on personal income and spending in coming week, which includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Fed.

On the sectoral front, interest rate-sensitive commercial real estate stocks turned in some of the worst performances on the day, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index down by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month. Significant weakness was also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 slump by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. The sell-off by natural gas stocks came amid a steep drop by the price of the commodity, with natural gas for January delivery plunging $0.37 or 5.3 percent to $6.60 per million BTUs. Airline, utilities and oil service stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 281.76 points or 0.85 percent to 32,920.46, Nasdaq dropped 105.11 points or 0.97 percent to 10,705.41 and S&P 500 was down by 43.39 points or 1.11 percent to 3,852.36.

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