Stocks whipsawed in volatile trading Thursday as investors mulled over an update from the Federal Reserve, the latest GDP report and corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrials handed back gains topping more than 600 points, and lost 7.31 points by the close to 34,160.78
The S&P 500 slipped 23.42 points to 4,326.51.
The NASDAQ also fell from dizzy heights, losing 189.34 points, or 1.4%, to 13,352.78.
Stocks are coming off three straight roller-coaster sessions, with the indexes seeing big swings each day this week. Despite wild intraday movement, the Dow is down just 0.3% on the week, while the S&P 500 is off by 1.6% and the NASDAQ is 3% lower.
The three major averages are solidly in negative territory this month, with the NASDAQ down more than 17% from its intraday high.
On the earnings front, Intel and Tesla posted strong quarterly numbers. However, their shares fell 7% and 11.6%, respectively.
Netflix jumped 7.5% on Thursday after news that Pershing’s Bill Ackman bought 3.1 million shares.
Investors continued to digest the latest update on monetary policy as the Federal Open Market Committee strongly indicated the first interest rate hike since late 2018 could come as soon as March.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell rattled markets Wednesday saying the central bank has “quite a bit of room” to raise rates before negatively impacting employment.
Fourth-quarter gross domestic product jumped 6.9% from the year prior, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected the economy grew at a 5.5% annualized pace in the final three months of 2021.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.81% from Wednesday’s 1.87%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eased back 21 cents to $87.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $35.00 to $1,794.70 U.S. an ounce.