Economics
In Friendless Stock Market, Powell Proves No Benefactor of Bulls
- Low during February sell-off obliterated as Fed chair speaks
- Technical level had held for 10 months, now 2,450 in play
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A stock market starved of allies lost a few more Wednesday, with Jerome Powell’s restrained words on volatility sending the S&P 500 tumbling through a chart line that bulls have clung to for 10 months.
It was the worst decline for any Federal Open Market Committee announcement day since 2011 as equities fell on the chairman’s seventh straight meeting. The S&P 500 extended its drop since September to 14.5 percent, barreling through its intraday low on Feb. 9 and leaving it about 160 points from the first bear market in a decade. The Nasdaq 100 turned lower for the year.