US Stocks fall on rate jitters: Nasdaq falls into correction territory

The US stocks gave up early gains and turned lower on Wednesday, 19 January 2022, weighing down the Dow, the S&P500 index and the Nasdaq in the red for the second straight session.

The Wall Street stocks were hit hard by the prospects of faster rate hikes after U.S. Treasury yields extended their recent surge to hit fresh two-year highs amid the potential for monetary policy tightening.

The recent rout pushed the Nasdaq Composite over the threshold into correction territory, now 10% lower than its record closing high on 19 Nov 2021.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined 339.82 points, or 0.96%, to 35,028.65. The S&P500 index dropped 44.35 points, or 0.97%, to 4,532.76. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 166.64 points, or 1.15%, to 14,340.26.

Total shares volume turnover on U.S. exchanges stood at 9.46 billion shares. Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 2319 to 1063 and 143 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1537 issues advanced, 3196 issues declined, and 232 issues unchanged.

Total 9 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing issues were consumer discretionary (down 1.81%), financials (down 1.65%), information technology (down 1.37%), and real estate (down 1.21%), while top performing issues included consumer staples (up 0.68%) and utilities (up 0.46%).

ECONOMIC NEWS: The Commerce Department latest data showed that housing starts rose 1.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.702 million units last month, the highest level since March, amid a surge in multi-family housing projects.

ENERGY NEWS: Global oil prices climbed to 7-year highs on Wednesday amid concerns about an already tight short term supply outlook.after reports that a fire on a pipeline from Iraq to Turkey briefly stopped flows. Concerns about instability in the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine added to supply concerns. The Brent crude price lifted by US93 cents or 1.1% to US$88.44 a barrel. The US Nymex crude price added US$1.53 or 1.8% to US$86.96 a barrel.

Among Indian ADR, WNS Holdings dropped 3.87% to $87.27, ICICI Bank fell 2.1% to $21.43, INFOSYS sank 4.08% to $24.47, Wipro fell 1.67% to $8.24, Dr Reddys Labs fell 0.67% to $62.35, and HDFC Bank declined 1.06% to $70.15. Tata Motors added 1.54% to $34.30 and. Azure Power Global rose 0.32% to $15.76.

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