Stock investors' nerves tested by inflation, omicron, Russia

Stock investors' nerves tested by inflation, omicron, Russia

The stock market is losing crucial support from the Federal Reserve

By STAN CHOE and PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press

January 26, 2022, 12:02 AM

• 7 min read

FILE - A pedestrian passes the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, in New York. The stock market is losing crucial support from the Federal Reserve. Omicron is causing havoc at businesses around the world. And Russia just might be preparing to invade Ukraine, creating more uncertainty and raising the prospect of even higher oil prices. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

NEW YORK -- The stock market is losing crucial support from the Federal Reserve. Omicron is causing havoc at businesses around the world. And Russia just might be preparing to invade Ukraine, creating more uncertainty and raising the prospect of even higher oil prices.

No wonder investors are freaking out — and selling stocks.

The S&P 500 has dropped nearly 10% from its record set on the first trading day of the year, the biggest setback for Wall Street since its collapse when the pandemic first struck. And the market’s moves have been fierce amid the mounting uncertainty.

The S&P 500 had four straight drops of 1% through Friday, the longest such streak since late 2018. The streak broke only after the S&P 500 eked out a slight gain on Monday, when a furious 11th-hour rally erased what had been a 4% loss. Tuesday was another volatile, down day for stocks.

For nearly two years, investors had poured money into stocks, confident that the Federal Reserve would help keep share prices upright. The Fed’s super-low interest rates and the rapid U.S. economic recovery from the pandemic recession made stocks a more lucrative bet than safer investments such as low-yielding bonds.

The S&P 500 more than doubled between its pandemic low in March 2020 and the end of last year.

But the Fed is now threatening to end the party.

Determined to cool down the hottest inflation in four decades, the U.S. central bank is moving away from its easy money policies and preparing to raise interest rates. And that spells trouble for the stock market. As rates rise, bonds will look more attractive, likely encouraging investors to shift money out of riskier areas of the market.

Worse, higher rates are likely to slow the U.S. economy, reducing consumer spending — and hurting the corporate profits that drive stock prices. The prospect of higher rates is one reason the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year to 4% from the 5.2% it had predicted in October.

The unknowns are daunting: The Fed hasn’t had to raise interest rates sharply to combat inflation since the early 1980s, and policymakers have no experience at all dealing with the aftershocks of a global pandemic. Omicron and other COVID-19 variants threaten to disrupt business activity in unpredictable ways.

As if all that weren’t enough, tension over Russia’s threat to invade Ukraine — and the likelihood that the United States will retaliate with sanctions — could send oil prices higher and put more pressure on the global economy.

Investors don’t see the volatility going away soon. The VIX index, which measures how much investors are paying to protect against drops for stocks in the upcoming 30 days, recently touched its highest level since October 2020.

The heaviest losses in the market’s swift readjustment have hit the big, fast-growing companies that were earlier the biggest stars of the pandemic. Amazon has lost nearly 18% since Jan. 3, and Tesla has lost more than 23%. Netflix, another pandemic darling, is down nearly 39%.

The damage has been widespread, with the most speculative corners of the market hit in particular. Bitcoin has fallen by more than 40% since hitting an all-time high in November. The smaller companies in the Russell 2000 index, many of which are losing money, have lost 18% since peaking in early November.

And the “meme stocks” that rocketed higher almost exactly a year ago have also come down. GameStop has lost nearly a third of its value so far in 2022, and AMC Entertainment is down 41%.