Stocks are back to falling on Wall Street as worries about a possible recession and rising bond yields put the squeeze back on markets. The S&P 500 fell 2.1% Thursday, reaching its lowest level since late 2020. The washout erased the index’s gains in a big rally the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% and the Nasdaq lost 2.8%. For markets to really turn higher, analysts say investors will need to see a break from the high inflation that’s swept the world. That hasn’t arrived yet, and even more data arrived Thursday showing the opposite. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are back to falling on Wall Street Thursday as worries about a possible recession and rising bond yields put the squeeze back on markets. The S&P 500 was 2.5% lower in afternoon trading and dropped to its lowest level since late 2020 earlier in the morning. The washout has the index on track to erase its big rally from a day before. That’s when forceful moves by the Bank of England to get suddenly spiking U.K. yields under control led to a global burst of relief among investors. That renewed calm seems to have lasted just a day. For markets to really turn higher, after U.S. stocks have lost more than 20% of their value this year, analysts say investors will need to see a break from the high inflation that’s swept the world. That hasn’t arrived yet, with even more data arriving Thursday showing the opposite. And that means the Federal Reserve and other central banks will likely keep pushing interest rates higher to slow their economies in hopes of pushing down inflation. By doing that, they’re also risking recessions if they go too far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 557 points, or 2.5%, at 29,126, as of 3:28 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 3.4% lower. Stocks fell as Treasury yields climbed and raised the pressure on markets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 3.76% in afternoon trading, up from 3.73% late Wednesday. It had been above 3.85% earlier in the morning. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed moves, rose more aggressively to 4.18% from 4.14%. A stronger-than-expected report on the U.S. jobs market bolstered expectations for the Fed to keep raising rates and hold them at high levels for a while, potentially through 2023. Fewer workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. That’s good news for workers in general and an indication layoffs aren’t widespread despite worries about the economy. But it also keeps upward pressure on inflation, which gives the Fed more reason to keep rates high. “The economy doesn’t look to be softening if you look at employment data,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network. That undercuts any investor hopes a weakening economy could convince the Fed to take it easier on interest rates. The Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate has already zoomed to a range of 3% to 3.25%, up from basically zero as recently as March. That’s its highest level since 2008, and the wide expectations is for the Fed to hike it by at least another full percentage […]

The post Wall Street Drops Back to Lowest Since 2020 as Fear Returns appeared first on The Yeshiva World.