Stocks closed little changed on Friday to wrap up a brutal week that saw the market enter bear territory. The Dow fell 38 points 29,888, the S&P 500 rose 8 points to 3,674, and the Nasdaq rose 152 points to 10,798. Only the latter index's change was more than 1%. The relatively quiet trading caps what's been a tumultuous week, per the AP. The benchmark S&P lost about 6% over the week, its 10th drop in the last 11 weeks and its worst week since 2020, per CNBC. Generally speaking, markets here and around the world have shuddered as investors adjust to the bitter medicine of higher interest rates that Federal Reserve and other central banks are increasingly doling out.
Higher rates can bring down inflation, but they also risk a recession by slowing the economy and push down on prices for stocks, cryptocurrencies, and almost all investments. “Any lack of clarity or lack of confidence in the Federal Reserve is going to create a lot of volatility in the market,” said Megan Horneman, chief investment officer at Verdence Capital Advisors. The S&P 500 remains in a bear market after it earlier this week dropped more than 20% below its record. It’s now about 23% below its all-time high set in January and is back to where it was in late 2020.
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