The US stock market continues to fall sharply. Stock index futures continued their decline as Jerome Powell warned that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates further, if necessary. This undermined risk appetite. The US dollar eventually won. S&P 500 futures declined by 0.7% after falling by 2.5% on Wednesday. The industrial Dow Jones lost about 0.4% and the high-tech NASDAQ index sank by nearly 1.0%. Two-year Treasuries rose to 4.72% and remained below the 5.06% yield peak. The sell-off spread to Europe and Asia. China intends to continue its Covid-Zero policy and this dashed investor hopes.
Meanwhile, the market is focused on another central bank. The Fed made a 75 bps hike and the Bank of England is likely to follow suit. Although the interest rate in the UK is much worse than in the US, the regulator is not expected to give up its fight against inflation, even amid an expected severe recession in the economy.
Yesterday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell disappointed traders who had bet on a reversal, saying that the US economy remains resilient, which will continue to spur inflation. A similar situation occurred at the end of the summer of this year, when investors, encouraged by a bullish rally suffered huge losses.
History repeats. Every time the market participants hope for a bit of dovish rhetoric, they watch the market crash and burn.
While investors are concerned about the impact of the central bank's tightening policies on economic growth, Powell said there was no doubt that the committee was ready to raise rates as high as necessary at any time to calm inflation.
ECB President Christine Lagarde also spoke today and warned that a moderate recession in the eurozone may be coming soon but it was not enough to stop price hikes.
Meanwhile, the US dollar rose against risky assets. The British pound fell by more than 1%, as fears that the Bank of England's interest rate hike could worsen the situation in the economy increased.
The rally in Chinese stocks also came to an end before it could begin amid rumors of Covid Zero cancellation. However, this rumor remained a rumor. Economists see a further sell-off in emerging markets in Asia as the US dollar is rising.
Wheat prices fell after Russia agreed to renew a deal allowing the safe passage of Ukrainian crop exports. Oil fell after Powell's comments on interest rates overshadowed supply cuts.
As for the technical picture of the S&P 500 index, after yesterday's decline, the demand for the index remains rather sluggish. Bulls need to protect the support of $3,735. As long as the trading instrument is trading above this level, we can expect the demand for the risky assets to come back if the US data occurs to be weak. This may strengthen the index and bring it back to the level of $3,773 under control, opening the way to the level of $3,808. If the price breaks through this level, it may start an upward correction and reach the resistance of $3,835. The next target is located at $3,861. If the index declines, bulls will have to show some activity at $3,735. If this level is pierced, the trading instrument may be pushed down to $3,699 and to a new support of $3,661.
