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Investing.com — U.S. stocks tumbled in early trading, with the Dow breaching below 30,000, on increased worry about a global economic slowdown.
At 10:23 ET (14:23 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 424 points, or 1.4%, while the S&P 500 was down 1.7% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1.9%.
The Dow has fallen in recent days as investors worry about damage from the Fed’s aggressive rate moves, approaching the level of its recent June lows. The S&P and Nasdaq are in a bear market, which means they’ve both fallen 20% or more from their recent highs.
U.S. private sector activity fell in September but contractions in both the manufacturing and service industries eased. S&P Global’s monthly flash composite purchasing managers’ index rose to 49.3, a three-month high.
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who spoke publicly at a press conference on Wednesday, is again set to appear today at 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT) for a virtual event about transitioning to a new post-pandemic economy.
Cautious forecasts from companies such as FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) haven’t helped sentiment. The logistics giant is raising prices an average of 6.9% as it experiences a global slowdown in shipping volume.
Growth stocks are being particularly hard-hit, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and others lower in early trading.
Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) shares fell 2.3% after the warehouse club said margins narrowed from last year, with higher shipping and labor costs.
Oil plunged. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 5.6%, to $78.75 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude was down 4.8%, to $86.08 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 1.7% to $1652 an ounce.
