The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index posted its worst one-day loss since June 2020. Shares of Target Inc plunged 25 percent after its first-quarter profit halved. This is the biggest loss for its shares since the crash of Black Monday on October 19, 1987.
Target’s results came a day after rival Walmart cut its earnings forecast.
The major interest rate sensitive growth stocks continued their losing streak and pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes lower. Shares of Tesla, Nvidia, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft closed sharply lower.
All eleven sectors listed in the Standard & Poor’s 500 declined, led by the shares of consumer products companies.
Financial markets have recently been hit by rising inflation, the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems, pandemic-related shutdowns in China and monetary tightening from central banks, raising concerns about a global economic slowdown.
According to preliminary data, the Standard & Poor’s 500 ended the trading session down 163.59 points, or 4.00 percent, to 3925.18 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 561.50 points, or 4.69 percent, to close at 11,423.03 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1148.11 points, or 3.52 percent, to 3,1506.48 points.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down about 17 percent so far this year, while the Nasdaq has plunged about 27 percent, hurt by sharp losses in growth stocks.
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