Stocks traded choppily on Tuesday as Wall Street looked for direction ahead of the Federal Reserve's upcoming monetary policy decision later this week. The S&P 500 slipped further into bear market territory while the Nasdaq Composite traded slightly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 150 points after rising as much as 170 points earlier in the session.
Volatility has re-entered the market as investors fear that the central bank could issue a larger than previously anticipated interest rate hike to address red hot inflation. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that a 75 basis point hike was on the table among policymakers following Friday's hotter-than-expected May CPI report. The Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day policy-setting meeting on Tuesday, and will issue a decision and hold a press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Coinbase to cut 18% of its workplace:
Coinbase
The cryptocurrency exchange plans to cut 18% of its full-time workforce, according to an email from CEO Brian Armstrong sent to employees on Tuesday. The company has about 5,000 full-time workers, meaning Coinbase plans to cut about 1,100 people, CNBC reports.
Armstrong said the possible upcoming recession and the need to address the company's burn rate and increase efficiency is behind the job cuts. He also noted the company grew "too quickly" during crypto's recent bull market.
"We appear to be entering a recession after a 10+ year economic boom. A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period," Armstrong said in an email, quoted by CNBC. "While it's hard to predict the economy or the markets, we always plan for the worst so we can operate the business through any environment."
Wholesales prices near record annual pace in May:
Wholesale prices rose in May as inflationary pressures continue to impact the U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
The Producer Price Index (PPI), which tracks the prices paid to producers of goods and services, rose 10.8% over last year following April's print of 10.9%. On a month-to-month basis, May's PPI doubled from April's at 0.8%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core PPI rose 0.5% on the month and 6.8% on the year.
The two PPI measures remained new historic highs; in March, headline PPI accelerated by 11.5% and core PPI by 7.1%.
Here's how benchmarks started trading after market open:
S&P 500 Index: +0.35% or +13.18 points to 3,763.52
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.22% or +68.25 points to 30,592.34
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.81% or +87.29 points to 10,897.43
