| symbol | Price | change | %Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Me: DJI | $28,725.51 | -.500.10 | -1.71 |
| SP500 | $3,585.62 | -54.85 | -1.51 |
| I: COMP | $10,575.62 | -.161.89 | -1.51 |
US stocks fluctuated as investors await the start of the fourth quarter when markets open on Monday morning.
Wall Street ended a miserable September on Friday with the S&P 500’s worst monthly slide since the global markets collapsed from the coronavirus pandemic. It is now at its lowest level since November 2020, down more than a quarter year-to-date.
The Fed is at the forefront of the global campaign to slow economic growth and damage labor markets just enough to undercut inflation, but not so much as to cause a recession.
On Friday, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation showed it was worse than economists had expected for the past month. That should keep the Fed on course to keep raising rates and keep them high for a while, increasing the risk that they will go too far and cause a downturn.
Vice Chairman Lael Brainard became the latest Fed official on Friday to insist that rates would not be cut early.
The S&P 500 fell 1.5% to close at 3,585.62 on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7% to 28,725.51. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.5% to 10,575.62. The tech-heavy index fell 10.5% in September and is down 32.4% so far this year. Smaller company stocks also had a tough September. The Russell 2000 ended the month down 9.7%.
On Friday, it was down 0.6% to 1,664.72. Other concerns hang over global markets, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A recent UK government plan to cut taxes sent bond markets into a tailspin amid fears it could exacerbate inflation.
Bond markets only calmed down somewhat after the Bank of England pledged last week to buy lots of UK government bonds, which are needed to bring yields back down. The U.S. dollar’s stunning and rapid rise against other currencies increases the risk of creating enough stress to cause a collapse somewhere in global markets.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mostly lower on Monday. Tokyo rose while other regional markets declined. Shanghai was closed for the week-long Chinese National Day holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1.1% to 26,215.79 after a quarterly Bank of Japan survey showed sentiment among manufacturers has softened, reflecting rising costs, the weaker yen and ongoing pandemic-related restrictions.
The headline gauge for the “Tankan,” which measures sentiment among major manufacturers, was up 8, down from up 9 in the previous quarter. The Tankan measures corporate sentiment by subtracting the number of companies that say business conditions are negative from those that respond that they are positive.
“Today’s Tankan survey suggests that while the services sector is benefiting from the easing virus wave, the outlook for manufacturing continues to deteriorate,” said a report by Capital Economics. It noted that this was the third consecutive decline in sentiment for the world’s third largest economy.
The BOJ has kept interest rates below zero in a longstanding effort to encourage inflation and keep deflation in check as the country ages and its population shrinks. That has kept the yen’s value weak against the US dollar, which has strengthened as the US Federal Reserve hikes interest rates to combat decades of high inflation.
The dollar was trading at 145.04 yen early Monday versus 144.68 yen late Friday. The euro was at 97.98 cents, versus 97.96 cents.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.9% to 17,073.81. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3% to 6,456.90. Taiwan’s Taiex slipped 0.9% and Bangkok’s SET slipped 1.3%.