The Markets ‘Running Off A Cliff’ Moment? [Podcast]

The archetypal cartoon picture of a character running off a cliff, legs cycling, and hanging in mid-air, until the truth dawns, and then falls, came to mind today as U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, with the NASDAQ plunging more than 3% in its biggest one-day percentage drop since February and it also represents the steepest slide to begin the first three days of a year in 13 years, when the financial crisis gripped the globe. So much for the hopeful note at the start of the New Year.

The S&P 500 fell more than 1%, its biggest daily percentage decline since Nov. 26, the first day of trading after news of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The Russell 2000 index also suffered its biggest one-day drop since Nov. 26, while the S&P 500 financials index fell 1.3%, a day after it registered an all-time closing high.

The reason, the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes which signaled the central bank may raise interest rates sooner than markets had expected. I have said before that the markets continue to believe the FED will save them, but, what if rates do rise harder and faster?

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