Dow drops 400 points as inflation concerns rattle investors
“It’s a bit of a tapering tantrum,” said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research.
The 10-year Treasury bond yield, which is sensitive to inflation expectations, rose to 1.53%. Bond yields and prices move in opposition to each other.
“The supply-side restrictions that are so much at the heart of the inflation we’re seeing … in some cases they’ve gotten worse,” Powell told lawmakers at the hearing.
The stock market reacted little at the time, as the comments met expectations, but Tuesday’s selloff might still be about tapering, the Fed’s process of cutting back on its monthly purchases.
Debt ceiling debate
Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testified before Congress Tuesday regarding the pandemic and the CARES Act.
“Deficits have been run under both Democratic and Republican administrations. It’s important to recognize that,” Yellen said. “And that means paying the bills for those deficits is a shared responsibility and it should not be the responsibility of any one party.”
While policy makers are busy in Washington, American consumers are growing less confident. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index declined for the third month in a row in September “as the spread of the Delta variant continued to dampen optimism,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at the Conference Board.
It’s not just stocks, bonds and the economy making investors uneasy.
— CNN’s Matt Egan and Julia Horowitz contributed to this report.
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