Tuesday Feb. 1, 2022

// February 1st, 2022 // Daily News

Stocks slide to begin February after S&P 500’s worst month since March 2020

Stocks fell Tuesday, following a wild January on Wall Street that saw investors struggle with a Federal Reserve policy shift.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 traded 0.4% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.8%.

Shares of UPS jumped 13% after the shipping company beat earnings estimates and raised its quarterly dividend 49%. Its rival FedEx added 3%, despite suspending some services due to Covid.

Shares of Exxon Mobil gained more than 3% after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue that jumped more than 80% year over year.

Tesla fell about 1% after the company issued a recall on about 53,000 cars with its self-driving software in the U.S.

The moves follow a two-day rally on Wall Street that ended a volatile month of trading.

Over the past several days, investors have stepped in to buy a dip that briefly knocked the S&P 500 into correction territory — down at least 10% from a recent high. The large-cap index is up more than 3% in the past week.

While stocks pulled off a tech-driven rally Monday — with the Nasdaq surging more than 3% — the major averages still suffered a brutal month marked by wild price swings. The blue-chip Dow slid 3.3% for the month. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered their worst monthly declines since March 2020, falling 5.3% and 8.98%, respectively. It was also the S&P 500′s biggest January decline since 2009.

January’s sell-off came as the Fed signaled its readiness to tighten monetary policy, including raising interest rates multiple times this year, to tame inflation that has shot up to the highest level in nearly four decades, and reducing its balance sheet. Investors flocked out of growth-oriented technology shares, which are particularly sensitive to rising rates.

Volatility exploded as investors deciphered the Fed’s messaging on its policy pivot. At one point last week, the S&P 500 dipped into correction territory on an intraday basis. The recent comeback pushed the large-cap benchmark 6.3% below its peak. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq, which is weighted to tech names, is still in a correction, last down 12% from its all-time high.