US stocks fall again amid intense selling pressure
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan 20, 2022, in New York City.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks finished decisively lower on Thursday (Jan 20) after again failing to hold on to early-session gains amid intense selling pressure.
"It's momentum going the other way," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare, who sees the Federal Reserve's recent 180-degree pivot on monetary policy as the driving force in the current trend.
"Last year it was 'buy the dip'," O'Hare said of trader sentiment. "This year, it's 'sell into strength'."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 34,715.39, down 0.9 per cent and a 775-point drop from its session peak.
The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.1 per cent to 4,482.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 1.3 per cent to 14,154.02.
US stocks have been under pressure so far in 2022 as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shifts the central bank's policy from highly accommodative and supportive of growth to a tightening mode focused on reining in inflation.
"Investors are still worried about inflation and a much much tighter Federal Reserve," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital.
Peloton Interactive plunged 23.9 per cent following a report on CNBC that the fitness firm planned to suspend production of bikes and treadmills due to falling consumer demand.
But Union Pacific gained 1 per cent after the freight rail company reported record annual profits as it pointed to a "positive demand environment" in 2022.
