Wall Street plunges as Treasury yields climb
U.S. stocks got walloped Tuesday - in the biggest percentage drop for the broader market since May - as interest rates jumped.
The Dow fell 569 points. The S&P 500 lost 90 points. The Nasdaq tumbled 423 points - a loss of nearly 3 percent.
Investors had a menu of worrisome items to choose from.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers she expected inflation to end the year near 4 percent and warned that if Congress failed to lift the nation's debt limit, it would be a "catastrophic event" for the economy.
Senate Republicans blocked another effort by Democrats to extend the borrowing limit and avoid a potential credit default, which would be the first in America's history.
And then there was the latest consumer confidence numbers, which surprisingly fell in September to lows not seen since February.
As far as Multivariate's Max Wolff is concerned - the stock market doesn't have much to look forward to as it heads into the final quarter of the year.
"My guess is the market is volatile and sideways and we end the year nowhere above where we are now, maybe a little below where we are now. I think the best days of this year are probably behind us. There'll be some ups and downs, probably a jagged run, but I think we probably end the year a little below where we are now."
In corporate news, Ford and Korean battery partner SK Innovation announced plans to invest more than $11 billion to build an electric F-150 assembly plant and three battery plants in the U.S. Ford now expects to have 40 to 50 percent of its vehicle production to be in all-electric models by 2030. Shares of Ford were the rare rally in Tuesday's stock market drought.
