Stocks are closed lower in another day of choppy trading on Wall Street as Wall Street closed the books on a rocky August that started off strong, but left the market deeper in the red. The S&P 500 fell 31.16 points, or 0.8%, to 3,955. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280.44 points, or 0.9%, to 31,510.43. The Nasdaq fell 66.93 points, or 0.6%, to 11,816.20. Technology stocks and big retailers were among the heaviest weights on the market, the AP reports. Chipmaker Nvidia fell 2.4% and Best Buy slid 5.7%. Energy companies fell as the price of U.S. crude oil dropped 2.3%.
Bed Bath & Beyond sank 21.3% after announcing a major restructuring and a stock sale, while Snap, the operator of the Snapchat messaging app, jumped 8.7% after announcing it will lay off 20% of its work force. Investors had their eye on the latest company quarterly report cards and outlooks. ChargePoint Holdings vaulted 12.3% after the electric vehicle charging network operator said its second-quarter revenue nearly doubled. Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands owner PVH slid 10.5% after the company cut its forecasts for full-year results.
Stocks got off to a solid start in early August, continuing a July rally. Investors were encouraged to see that signs that inflation, while still high, was leveling off. That fueled optimism on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve might be able to ease back on raising interest rates. That optimism faded by mid-August as the central bank signaled it would keep raising rates and keep them high as long as necessary to tame the the hottest inflation in four decades. Wall Street is worried that the Fed could hit the brakes too hard on an already slowing economy and veer it into a recession.
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