Economic jitters knock Wall Street lower
U.S. stocks dropped across the board on Wednesday as economic fears and worries about the timing for the anticipated pullback of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program weighed on investors' minds.
The Dow and the S&P 500 fell for a third straight session. The Nasdaq lost 87 points.
The Fed's summary of economic conditions, referred to as the Beige Book, added to investor angst. Regional Fed banks said they were seeing slower economic growth in early July through August, mainly in dining, travel and tourism due to rising concerns over the health crisis. Supply disruptions and a shortage of workers are also having a dampening impact on the economy across the nation.
Reports like that are leading to a rise in uncertainty creeping back into the market, says Gerber Kawasaki's Ross Gerber
"If we think about maybe interest rates going higher, or Delta slowing the economy and then you think about valuations, one has to really say, you know, we need sort of the perfect world for stocks, for current valuations to make sense. And are we in this perfect world? Maybe not. So I think a little pullback in stocks is probably healthy."
Hot stocks for the day included Coinbase. The Securities and Exchange Commission warned Coinbase that it will sue if the crypto exchange goes ahead with the launch of a digital currency lending program. Shares of Coinbase dropped more than 3 percent.
By the way - bitcoin - the world's most used cryptocurrency was lower on the day – hovering around $46,000.
PayPal is adding to its buy now, pay later kingdom...buying Japanese firm Paidy for $2.7 billion. Shares of PayPal fell roughly 3 percent.
After the close, earnings out from the original meme stock - GameStop. The Reddit darling that set off an epic battle between amateur investors and hedge funds beat sales forecasts but it posted a wider-than-expected net quarterly loss. The stock initially dropped in after-hours trading.
