The S&P 500 fell on Wednesday, after the major averages made a failed attempt at a bounce in the previous session, and as the market prepares to close out the worst first half of the year since 1970.
The broad market index fell 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a slight gain of 4 points, or 0.02%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.7%.
Investors are still searching for the bottom of a vicious market sell-off as the second quarter comes to an end Thursday. Concern over a slowing economy and aggressive rate hikes consumed much of the first half of 2022, and fears of a recession fears are rising.
“We expect significant volatility this summer, with ‘face-ripping’ short-covering rallies followed by economically-inspired market slumps,” Well Fargo senior equity analyst Christopher Harvey said in a note Wednesday. “While a much anticipated market ‘washout’ could catalyze a more sustained move higher, we think the market will not sustain a rally until it believes the Fed will toggle from a 50-75bp tightening to a more mundane 25bp increase.”
The S&P 500, which is down about 20% in 2022, is on pace for its worst first half of the year since 1970, when the index lost 21.01%. Meanwhile, on a quarterly basis, both the Dow and S&P 500 are on track for their worst performance since 2020. The Nasdaq is headed toward its worst three-month period since 2008.
In early trading Wednesday, Pinterest shares jumped more than 4% onnews that CEO Ben Silbermann is stepping down.
General Mills shares rose more than 2% after the company topped earnings and revenue forecasts for its most recent quarter.
Carnival Corp slid 9% after Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the stock in half and said it could potentially go to zero in the face of another demand shock. The call dragged other cruise stocks lower. Royal Carribean lost 4% and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 3%.
Bed Bath & Beyond shares plummeted more than 14% after the companyposted a huge miss on quarterly earningsand revenue expectations and announced its CEO is stepping down.
Meanwhile, On Wednesday Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said shewill advocate for a 75 basis point hiketo interest rates at the central bank’s July meeting if economic conditions remain the same by then.
“I haven’t seen the kind of numbers on the inflation side that I need to see in order to think that we can go back to a 50 increase,” she told CNBC.
Investors are also looking ahead to comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the European Central Bank forum.
Earnings from Bed Bath & Beyond, General Mills and McCormick are also on deck.
Wednesday’s moves followed steep losses for the major averages the day before. The Dow fell more than 1.5% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slid 2% and 3%, respectively. The benchmarks all started the session with strong gains, but disappointing consumer confidence data halted those advances and sent stocks tumbling.
“As long as the sell-off is orderly,” the Fed is “not concerned with the level of stock prices,” Guggenheim Partners’ Global CIO Scott Minerd told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Tuesday. “The bottom line is until we see some amount of panic here or something that gets the central bankers concerned, they are just ‘hellbent’ to get inflation under control.”