US stocks navigate more volatility to bounce off session lows ahead of Fed decision
- Stocks went on another wild ride Tuesday following a stunning bounceback on Monday.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly erased an 800-point loss to finish with a modest decline.
- Investors are anxiously awaiting a Fed policy announcement on Wednesday and Q4 earnings results.
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US stocks fell on Tuesday after another volatile trading session in which the Dow Jones shed more than 800 points before briefly turning positive.
The continued sell-off comes before a highly anticipated Federal Reserve meeting that wraps up on Wednesday, in which the central bank will decide whether it should hike interest rates or wait until the following meeting in March.
Adding to the recent stock market volatility has been a rise in geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which is impacting different commodities including oil and precious metals.
Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Tuesday:
- S&P 500: 4,356.46, down 1.22%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,297.67, down 0.19% (66.83 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 13,539.29, down 2.28%
Additionally, a cascade of earnings reports from mega-cap companies are due this week. Microsoft is scheduled to report after the close on Tuesday, while Apple reports on Thursday. So far 13% of S&P 500 companies have reported their earnings results. Of those companies, 88% have beat EPS estimates, while 77% of the companies have beat revenue estimates, according to data from Fundstrat.
The price of dogecoin popped as much as 8% on Tuesday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he would eat a happy meal on TV if McDonald's accepted the meme-token as a form of payment for its food.
The ongoing meltdown in cryptocurrencies isn't fazing Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy, which said it plans to continue buying bitcoin despite the recent sell-off.
A listing loophole at OpenSea led to NFTs worth over $1 million selling for fractions of their perceived value. The loophole has since been closed, according to OpenSea.
Amid the decline in stocks, many investors are counting on the Federal Reserve to save the stock market by pivoting to a less hawkish stance. But famed short-seller Jim Chanos says that idea is dangerous.
"The idea of a Fed put and that the Fed is always going to be there to bail out my bad investment decisions is really not cogent investment policy to hold onto for a long time," Chanos said.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as 2.48% to $85.38 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, jumped as much as 2.16% to $88.13 per barrel.
Gold rose as much as 0.40% to $1,849.10 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose about 1 basis point to 1.78%.