Stock markets reflect echo of recession

Picture courtesy: Reuters

The stock market fell Monday on continued concerns about rising job activity and higher inflation. September inflation numbers are due out Thursday. Chip stocks and the broader technology sector led losses. U.S. automakers Ford (F) and General Motors (GM) both fell after UBS downgraded their stocks.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the way down, dropping 1.2% to a two-year low , the S&P 500 (^GSPC) slid 0.9% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) shed 150 points, or 0.5%.

Declines accelerated in the afternoon as investors weighed comments from JPMorgan (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon indicating the U.S. economy is likely to enter a recession in six to nine months.

Technology stocks took the brunt of Monday's selling as chip stocks plunged. Measures imposed by the U.S. to curb China's access to semiconductors aim to slow the country's technological and military advances but deal a further blow to an industry already struggling with weaker revenues as demand slows for computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices. Shares of major chipmakers including Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD) fell roughly 4% and 2%, respectively.

Amazon-backed Rivian (RIVN) stock plunged nearly 10% Monday after the startup EV maker announced a recall of nearly all of its vehicles to fix a steering defect. The loss sent shares of the Tesla rival to their lowest level since mid-July.

The Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) fell 1.8%. Dow Jones tech titan Microsoft (MSFT) fell 1.9% while Apple (AAPL) traded flat. Chip leader Lam Research (LRCX) plunged 7%.

The jobs report on Friday showed the economy added 263,000 payroll jobs in September, the slowest monthly gain since December 2020. Still, the September unemployment rate fell to 3.5% from 3.7% last month, barely above the all-time low 3.4% in 1969.

Russia embarked over the weekend on its biggest missile assault in months on multiple cities in Ukraine, according to reports. Stock Market Dips On Escalation In Ukraine.

European markets were mixed Monday. The London FTSE 100 declined 0.3%, while the German DAX gained 0.1% and the French CAC 40 traded 0.3% lower.

In Asia, stocks fell after a renewed wave of pandemic-related lockdowns in major Chinese cities showed reduced consumer spending .

Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 3% and the Shanghai index fell 1.7%. Japan's Nikkei is closed today.

In the U.S., federal offices, banks and the bond market were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.