The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its biggest loss since 2020 on Wednesday after another major retailer warned of rising cost pressures, confirming investors’ worst fears over rising inflation and rekindling the brutal 2022 sell-off.
The Dow shed 1,164.52 points, or 3.57%, to 31,490.07, the average’s biggest decline since June 2020. It’s the lowest close for the Dow since March 2021.
The S&P 500 traded 4.04% lower to 3,923.68, also the worst drop since 2020. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 4.73% to 11,418.15, which is the largest fall in the tech-heavy index since May 5. The selling was broad and intense on Wall Street with just eight members of the S&P 500 in the green.
Markets returned to heavy selling after two back-to-back quarterly reports from Target and Walmart stoked investor fears of rising inflation. It’s the fifth Dow decline of more than 800 points this year, which all occurred as the stock sell-off intensified within the last one month, according to FactSet data.
“It’s clear that transportation costs matter and they’re impacting [some of] the largest companies …