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The stock market tumbled earlier today – with the S&P 500 briefly falling into correction territory – before recovering in volatile trading as investors worry about rising interest rates and await a key Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week.
The benchmark index is now down more than 10% from its record highs earlier this month.
Important facts
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3%, nearly 100 points, while the S&P 500 was up 0.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6%.
The benchmark S&P 500 index, which is on track for its worst January performance ever, entered correction territory at one point, falling more than 10% from its record high at the start of 2022.
Stocks rallied dramatically late in the day, with all three major indices turning positive: Earlier Monday, the Dow fell as much as 1,000 points, while the S&P 500 was down nearly 4% and the Nasdaq was down about 5%.
Investors remain concerned about rising interest rates and are now eyeing the upcoming Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday.
Most pundits don’t expect the Fed to take any significant action at this meeting, but the central bank is likely to make the first of several rate hikes starting in March, while concurrently completing its monthly asset purchase program.
Additionally, the fourth-quarter earnings season has been mixed so far: Although more than 74% of S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings beat Wall Street estimates, some big names, including Netflix and Goldman Sachs, have reported weak earnings.