Jerome Powell's first day at US Federal Reserve brings stock market rout

The stock plunge is occurring during an upswing in the economy with the unemployment rate at 4.1%

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was met with a surging bout of market volatility in his first day in office, as stocks fell and long-term interest rates plunged in response. 

The 4.1 percent rout in the S&P 500 index on Monday, the steepest decline since 2011, poses more questions than answers so far for Powell and his team. The sell-off continued into Tuesday in Asia, with stocks plunging for a second day and US stock futures continuing to decline.

“The Dow down 1,000 points -- that gets your attention,” said Roberto Perli, a former Fed economist and partner at