By Liz Moyer
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks tumbled in early trading, with the Dow breaching below 30,000, on increased worry about a global economic slowdown.
At 9:40 ET (13:40 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 279 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P 500 was down 1% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1%.
The Dow has fallen in recent days as investors worry about damage from the Fed’s aggressive rate moves, approaching the level of its recent June lows. The S&P and Nasdaq are in a bear market, which means they’ve both fallen 20% or more from their recent highs.
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who spoke publicly at a press conference on Wednesday, is again set to appear today at 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT) for a virtual event about transitioning to a new post-pandemic economy.
Cautious forecasts from companies such as FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) haven’t helped sentiment. The logistics giant is raising prices an average of 6.9% as it experiences a global slowdown in shipping volume.
Growth stocks are being particularly hard-hit, with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and others lower in early trading.
Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) shares fell 2.5% after the warehouse club said margins narrowed from last year, with higher shipping and labor costs.
Oil plunged. Crude Oil WTI Futures was down 5%, to $79.29 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude was down 4.2%, to $86.53 a barrel. Gold Futures fell 1.5% to $1656 an ounce.