Stock Market Traders Discover That Bad News Is Bad After All – Yahoo Finance
(Bloomberg) — Order is being restored in financial markets, a frightening development for equity bulls.
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For the first time in a long time, news that was bad for the economy was bad for the stock market as well, more proof that recession fear has replaced inflation angst as that market’s biggest bugaboo. That bonds took the news in stride is nice for investors with a toe in each market, but adds to evidence that concern about the economy has become the bigger input to both.
Rather than rise on speculation that weak data would curb Federal Reserve tightening, the S&P 500 dropped 2.5% on Thursday, while the Nasdaq 100 lost 3.4%. Small-cap stocks lost more than 2.5% and the VIX volatility gauge shot back above 22. The yield on 10-year Treasuries hovered around 3.45%, down from a peak of 3.63% earlier this week.
“The concern is growth and what’s going to happen to the economy, and is the Fed pushing us into recession,” Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, said on Bloomberg’s “What Goes Up” podcast on Thursday. “Markets won’t ignore the fact that we’re entering a downturn — and so could we head back toward those lows, give up some of the gains that we’ve seen recently? We think that is certainly a scenario that is a credible one.”
In months prior, bad economic news was often taken as good by investors because it suggested the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases were working as intended to cool the economy and tamp down inflation. But now a shift may be at hand: Many investors are worrying more about a recession in 2023, with the risk increasing that the Fed could overtighten.
Data Thursday suggested US economic growth is slowing, with retail sales and manufacturing dropping last month, though the labor market has remained strong. Retail sales fell in November by the most in nearly a year, calling into question the health of the consumer, while several factory measures also showed contraction, burdened by weaker demand, among other things. Meanwhile, regional Federal Reserve banks data showed that manufacturing weakened in both the New York and Philadelphia regions by more than expected — the latter’s new orders gauge fell to the lowest since the onset of the pandemic.
“Investors took their eye off the ball and were hoping for a glide path into the holidays,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. “Markets are realizing that we are in for a staring contest between Jay Powell and investors …….