By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- Stocks accelerated their losses heading into the close as Wall Street analysts weighed the idea that the Federal Reserve could raise its benchmark interest rate by a more-aggressive three-quarters of a percentage point, stoking fears of a downturn.
Speculation about the Fed's next move this week has taken the wind out of stocks, hammering the S&P 500 into bear territory, where Nasdaq already was. The three major indexes were heading into the close on a four-day losing streak.
Cryptocurrencies also tumbled, with Bitcoin falling below $24,000 as investors fled risk assets. On the flipside, the 10-year Treasury reached a yield of 3.4%.
A three-quarter point move would be more aggressive than the Fed has signaled in recent weeks. Chair Jerome Powell even said just a few weeks ago that such a big move wasn't under consideration. But persistently higher than expected inflation is prompting Wall Street forecasters to consider whether the Fed could stray from its previously suggested plan to raise rates by a half-point in each of June and July.
Some analysts are concerned the Fed could act too aggressively and tip the economy into a recession. Already companies have been cutting their revenue and profit forecasts and freezing hiring or cutting staff because of rising costs.
Producer prices come out early Tuesday morning, one more data point for analysts to measure the progress -- or lack of progress -- on taming inflation.
Here are three things that could affect markets tomorrow:
1. Producer prices
The Producer Price Index comes out at 8:30 AM ET on Tuesday. It's the measure of what companies are making for the products they sell. Analysts expect prices for pay jumped 0.8% from April and 10.9% over the 12 months since last year's May.
2. Core producer prices
Core producer prices, which exclude volatile things like fuel and food, are expected to rise 0.6% for the month and 8.6% for the year.
3. Oracle earnings
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) reported after Monday's closing bell, in the middle of a broad market selloff. And the news was good, sending Oracle shares up 9% in after-market trading. Earnings per share of $1.54 adjusted beat the expectation for EPS of $1.37. Revenue of $11.84 billion beat expectations for revenue of $11.6 billion.