Stocks fell on Wednesday as investors remained concerned over the health of the economy following comments from JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 175 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite both dropping over 0.7%.
On Wednesday, Dimon said in remarks at a financial conference in New York that he is preparing the bank for an economic "hurricane" in the near-term, telling other analysts and investors to "brace yourself". Dimon said he is worried that the Federal Reserve's hawkish quantitative tightening (QT) measures and the Russia-Ukraine war's impact on the commodities market is leading to an impending economic crisis.
Here's how the market settled on Wednesday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): -0.75% or -30.93 points to 4,101.22
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): -0.54% or -177.15 points to 32,812.97
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): -0.72% or -86.93 points to 11,994.46
U.S. manufacturing activity continues to expand in May:
The U.S. manufacturing sector continued to grow in May despite rising concerns over a possible economic slowdown lying ahead.
The S&P Global's U.S. Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) ticked down to 57 in May from April's reading of 59.2, with both production and new orders increasing at slower rates. Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing PMI rose to 56.1 in May, up from 55.4 in the prior month. Any readings above 50 indicate expansion in the sector.
"A solid expansion of manufacturing output in May should help drive an increase in GDP during the second quarter, with production growth running well above the average seen over the past decade," said Chris Williamson, chief business economists at S&P Global Market Intelligence, in a press statement. "However, the rate of growth has slowed as producers report ongoing issues with supply chain delays and labor shortages, as well as slower demand growth."
"A cooling in new orders growth was in part linked to customers pushing back on high prices, though also reflected shortages and growing concern about the outlook," Williamson added.
Job openings decline in April:
Job openings declined in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) published Wednesday, as the labor market remained tight in the first half of the year.
Openings totaled 11.4 million on the last business day of April, down from March's print of 11.86 million. Beneath the headline, the biggest job opening decreases by industry were in health care and social work, retail and food services, all of which saw a drop of more than 100,000 openings month-over-month.
In April, the number of hires were little changed at 6.6 million, with the hires rate left unchanged at 4.4%.
Here's how benchmarks started trading after market open:
S&P 500 Index: +0.58% or +24.02 points to 4,156.17
Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.73% or +239.63 points to 33,229.75
Nasdaq Composite Index: +0.78% or +93.71 points to 12,175.10