The stock market continued its recent slide with the three major indexes each losing over two percent of their value on Monday (December 17). The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down over 500 points, closing at 23592.98, the S&P 500 finished the day down 2.08%, while the Nasdaq shed 156 points. The three indexes are all in the red for the year, the first time that has happened since 2015.
The sell-off was in response to investors concerns that the Federal Reserve is planning to hike interest rates on Wednesday amid slower economic growth. Many people, including President Donald Trump, have called on the Fed to halt their plans to hike interest rates as economic growth stagnates.
"With increased stock market volatility and signs of slower growth overseas, there are increasing calls for the Fed to halt its rate increases," wrote David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds. "This is where the Fed needs to keep its head first because current Fed policy is neither too aggressive nor too tight and second because a change of course at this point could undermine confidence."
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