US and European stocks fell for a third straight day on Tuesday, as hawkish rhetoric from last week’s economic conference in Jackson Hole fuelled expectations of higher interest rates.
The broad S&P 500 had fallen 1.4 per cent by mid-afternoon in New York, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite had dropped 1.6 per cent.
In Europe, the regional Stoxx 600 gauge lost 0.7 per cent, while Germany’s Dax rose 0.5 per cent, trimming earlier losses. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.9 per cent following a one-day holiday.
Those moves followed two days of weakness in global equities, after central bankers reaffirmed their commitment to tackling inflation at an annual summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, even as the prospect of tighter monetary policy threatens to induce a protracted economic slowdown.
In a speech on Friday, Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell said the US central bank “must keep at it until the job is done”, and that reducing inflation would probably result in lower economic growth for a “sustained period”.
Signalling expectations of further tumult in stock markets, the Vix volatility index — known as Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — registered a reading of 27.69 on Tuesday, its highest level since mid-July.
The index could rise further, warned Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. “US equities do not reflect sufficient fear given current macro and micro uncertainties,” he said.
Read more on the day’s market moves here.
