Stocks fall for 3rd straight day as recession fears rise

STORY: U.S. stocks suffered their third straight session of declines and second straight week of losses Friday as fears grew that the Federal Reserve's battle against inflation would push the economy into a recession.

The Dow lost a little less than a percent. The S&P 500 dropped more than a percent, while the Nasdaq ended roughly a percent lower.

Stocks have been under pressure since Fed Chair Jerome Powell this week signaled more policy tightening ahead, and the central bank projected that interest rates would top the 5% mark in 2023, a level not seen since 2007.

David Spika is president and chief investment officer at GuideStone Capital Management.

"Today's action, we think, is really a continuation of the response to the Fed meeting. I think, initially, the market saw Powell's comments as dovish when they were not. He said that inflation needed to fall convincingly before there would be a pivot, before there would be a rate cut. And the market is finally starting to take that into account. It's clear that the Fed is not done. They're going to continue to raise interest rates, more likely than not push us into recession. And that's the only thing that gets us anywhere near that 2% inflation level that the Fed has as its target."

Shares of Tesla extended losses Friday, as CEO Elon Musk faced fresh backlash related to his ownership of Twitter, after he suspended at least five journalists on the platform.

Shares of Meta Platforms rose nearly 3% after J.P. Morgan upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral."

Shares of Adobe gained 3% after the Photoshop maker forecast first-quarter profit above expectations.

General Motors lost nearly 4% after its robotaxi unit Cruise faced a safety probe by U.S. auto safety regulators.

And shares of Goldman Sachs fell about a percent following reports the investment bank plans to lay off thousands of employees as it positions for a weaker U.S. economy.