Brendan McDermid/Reuters
US stocks tumbled on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned of a slow economic recovery that may require more fiscal stimulus.
Investors looked to Powell’s morning speech for clues about how the central bank may act further to pad the economic downturn – and what it expects the government to do. The chairman struck a decidedly negative tone and said that additional aid was likely needed to drag the economy out of its slump.
“While the economic response has been both timely and appropriately large, it may not be the final chapter, given that the path ahead is both highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks,” the Fed chair said in a webcast with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
He added: “Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery.”
Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4 p.m. ET market close on Wednesday:
Powell also dashed any hopes of negative interest rates within the US, noting such policy “is not something we’re looking at.” The comments arrive just one day after President Donald Trump praised the idea of negative rates, saying they are a “gift” to other nations.
JPMorgan cautioned in a Tuesday note that rates would only need to be “mildly negative” for a short period of time before any benefits were overshadowed by economic costs.
Investors initially shunned concerns of a premature economic reopening and pushed futures on all three major indexes higher before Powell’s speech.
Oil prices fluctuated, with West Texas Intermediate crude rising as much as 2.6% before settling 1.7% lower, at $25.35 per barrel. Brent crude, oil’s international standard, gained 1.9% before reversing gains and declining 2.6%, to $29.20 per barrel.
Despite the stock market’s steady rally through May, some experts are wary of beliefs that the bear market is over. The legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller told members of The Economic Club of New York on Tuesday that he viewed the market as vastly overvalued and that the Fed’s lifting of credit stresses wouldn’t hold.
Billionaire investor David Tepper added fuel to Druckenmiller’s fire on Wednesday, telling CNBC the only time he viewed the market as more overvalued than it is right now was during the dot-com bubble in 1999.
“The market’s pretty high and the Fed’s put a lot of money in here … the market is by anybody’s standard pretty full,” he said, adding he isn’t short any equities but has been “relatively conservative” with his portfolio.
Wednesday’s mixed open followed a steep decline at the end of Tuesday’s session. Testifying before the Senate on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious-diseases expert, cautioned against an early economic reopening, saying the consequences “could be really serious.” His remarks contributed to equities’ afternoon dive; indexes closed roughly 2% lower.
Now read more markets coverage from Markets Insider and Business Insider:
Trump alleges ‘rich guys’ intentionally talk the stock market lower for short-position profits
HSBC lost nearly $200 million in a single day amid gold-market turbulence
