US stocks suffered their biggest weekly loss since early in the year after the Federal Reserve’s expedited timetable for rate hikes and stimulus tapering sparked broad risk aversion across financial markets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the broadest US equity barometer on the New York Stock Exchange, finished at 33,290, down 1.6 percent on the day. For the week, the Dow fell 3.5 percent, its most since the week ending on January 22.
The S&P 500, which groups the top 500 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at 4,166, down 1.3 percent on the day. For the week, the index lost 1.9 percent, its most since the week to February 19.
The Nasdaq Composite index, which includes high-flying tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Google, outperformed the Dow and S&P500 despite settling in the negative as well. The Nasdaq closed at 14,030, down 0.9 percent on the day and 0.3 percent on the week.
Stocks fell after the Federal Reserve signaled at the end of its monthly policy meeting on Wednesday that it will raise interest rates a minimum of two times by the end of 2023, to 0.6 percent from current levels of between zero and 0.25 percent.
The Federal Reserve also said it was looking out for data on when to start tapering its monthly asset purchase of $120 billion. The central bank has been buying at least $80 billion in Treasury bonds and $40 billion in mortgage bonds to support credit markets and the economy since the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak.
