The Dow Jones Industrial Average is nosediving again on Friday, shedding over 500 points following another Federal Reserve decision to hike interest rates.
On Wednesday, the central bank announced it would continue boosting rates to control inflation, raising interest rates another 50 basis points after hiking rates by 75 basis points four previous times this year.
The Fed’s statement sent Wall Street into a sell-off as U.S. stocks erased gains made to start the week.
On Friday, key blue-chip stocks like Boeing, American Express, Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar, United Healthcare and Coca-Cola were all beneath the redline with Verizon leading the fall at approximately 2.40% in negative territory.
As of 12:55 p.m., the Dow Jones was off approximately 1.59%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P were off nearly 1.49% and 1.67%, respectively.
The rate hike will bring the federal funds rate between 4.25% and 4.5% to cool inflation, posting its highest level in 15 years.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 0.1% monthly increase in inflation for November on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.3% spike in consumer prices as U.S. stocks rebounded until the Fed announcement.
