Economics
Stocks Tumble in Worst Week Since August as Fed Anxiety Spreads
- Commodity rout unnerves investors anticipating higher rates
- Looming Fed sparks high-yield debt selloff, contagion fears
Is the S&P 500 in a Winter Slump?
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U.S. stocks capped their worst week since the August selloff as optimism over the economy’s strength gave way to anxiety over the Federal Reserve just as commodities and credit markets flashed signs of danger.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 3.8 percent in the five days to end at a two-month low. Energy shares plunged as the cheapest crude oil since 2009 rekindled anxiety over deflation before the Fed’s Dec. 16 policy decision. Financial shares, the ostensible beneficiaries of any rate hike, tumbled 5.4 percent, as asset managers were routed after a high-yield mutual fund suspended redemptions.