US Market tumbles on hawkish Fed officials, China Covid unrest

The US stock market finished session steep lower on Monday, 28 November 2022, as the Federal officials stresses for more interest rate hikes as well as protests across the world's second-largest economy over restrictive against Covid-zero policies dampened market sentiment.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index stumbled 497.57 points, or 1.45%, to 33,849.46 The S&P500 index was down 62.18 points, or 1.54%, to 3,963.94. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 176.86 points, or 1.58%, to 11,049.50.

All 11 sectors of the S&P500 index declined, with energy, realty, materials, information technology, and industrials issues being notable losers.

Market risk sentiments dampened as the social unrest in China has fuelled concerns over the social instability in the world's second-largest economy and that the road to reopening could be a bumpy one. The COVID protests have flared across China and spread to several cities in the wake of a deadly fire in Urumqi in the country's far west, with hundreds of demonstrators and police clashing in Shanghai on Sunday night.

The unrest comes as a spike in COVID-19 infections prompted more local lockdown controls despite recent hopes of easing policy from Beijing. The world's second-largest economy has seen almost three years of stringent lockdowns, which have weighed on growth.

Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said markets may be underestimating the chances of higher rates while his New York counterpart John Williams noted policymakers have more work to do to curb inflation. Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard said the string of supply shocks is keeping inflation risks elevated.

Investors are now looking ahead to Jerome Powell's speech Wednesday with many economists expecting he'll cement bets that the Fed will slow its pace of rate increases next month.

Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS was down 1.5% at $19.63, HDFC Bank fell 1.3% to $68.59, Dr Reddy's Labs dropped 0.2% to $54.56, Azure Power Global sank 8.4% to $5.59, Wipro was down 1% to $4.95, WNS Holdings declined 0.2% to $84.01, and Tata Motors slid 0.5% to $26.26. ICICI Bank added 0.7% to $23.17.

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