The S&P 500 has declined 17.7% year-to-date, while the Russell 2000 small-cap index has lost 19.6%. It has been a rough ride for equities this year, with the benchmark indexes tumbling on concerns over soaring inflation and the Fed’s attempts to tame it.
Investors increasingly fear the central bank’s aggressive policy tightening to tame the multi-decade high inflation will push the economy into a recession. The worse-than-anticipated inflation data might compel the Fed to keep hiking rates, putting further pressure on the stock market in the upcoming months.
