U.S. Stocks Open Sharply Lower as Recession Fears Take Hold

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Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened sharply lower, reversing gains from the previous day as investors worried about the prospects of a recession.

At 9:48 AM ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 677 points, or 2.2%, while the S&P 500 was down 2.5% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 2.6%.

After the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 0.75 points on Wednesday, investors breathed a sigh of relief and sent stocks higher. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could raise rates another 50 to 75 basis points at its July meeting, based on the data the policymakers will be monitoring. 

But investors are wondering whether the Fed can pull off such aggressive moves without tipping the economy into a recession. And it’s not the only central bank raising rates. The Swiss National Bank raised rates for the first time in 15 years, and the Bank of England hiked by a quarter-point.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares rose nearly 1% ahead of an all-hands staff meeting where Elon Musk is expected to appear today. Musk has a $44 billion offer pending for the social media company but has been quibbling with management over data showing how many fake accounts are on the platform.

Speaking of Musk, his electric car company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is raising prices for vehicles because of rising aluminum prices and supply chain issues. Shares of Tesla, where Musk is CEO, fell 4.4%. 

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares fell 3.6% after the company announced Prime Day, its big annual sales event, which would be on July 12 and 13.

Oil fell. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 1.8%, to $113 a barrel and Brent Oil Futures fell 1.7%, to $116 a barrel. Gold Futures rose 0.7% to $1,833 an ounce.