By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 fell Thursday as dip-buying in the broader market ran out of steam amid ongoing fears the Federal Reserve’s plan to curb inflation could derail the economy.

They fell 1.5% and 1.5% respectively, or 460 points. The dropped 1.6%.

Technology failed to capitalise on intraday buying due to fears that higher inflation would keep the Federal Reserve on an hawkish rate-hike path.

Big tech’s decline was led by Microsoft (NASDAQ;), Apple (NASDAQ.:), and Alphabet. A significant drag on this sector came from the more than 4% drop in AMD (NASDAQ).

Final demand rose 0.5% in November according to economists’ predictions. It also rose 11% through November exceeding the 10.7% expected increase.

“Nothing in yesterday’s or today’s report suggests the Committee will deviate from the implied increase of 50bps on June 15, although some are beginning to reconsider the possibility of  75bp increase,” Stifel said in a note.

The wider market sale was also a result of financial stocks being under pressure. This is due to the fact that Treasury yields continue to fall on concerns about global growth.

Signature Bank (NASDAQ:), Citigroup Synchrony Financial and (NYSE 🙂 were two of the most significant decliners. The latter fell more than 6 percent.

Wolf Research downgraded Synchrony Financial to underperform from peer perform, citing a deteriorating credit outlook.

As investors struggled to deal with swings in oil prices, energy stocks plunged more than 2 percent. Investors continue to balance the risks of weaker demand against possible supply shortages.

Meanwhile, earnings showed mixed quarterly results.

WeWork (NYSE): The company’s losses have been reduced by a rebound of office space demand after the pandemic-induced slump. Its shares rose more than 9 percent.

Walt Disney According to (NYSE:), the stock fell more than 2% on the bottom and top lines. But streaming, which reached over 200 million subscribers, was a shining spot. Stock fell more than 2%.

Beyond Meat (NASDAQ:) fell more than 1% after a wider loss than expected as rising costs dented margins.

“With increasing competitive pressures, challenges in scaling the business, and intermediate-term capital needs, we believe investors should stay on the sidelines,” Oppenheimer said in a note.  

Rivian Automobile (NASDAQ:) increased more than 16%, despite not reporting quarterly results.

“This quarter [for Rivian] was not without issues, but it does finally appear that Rivian is on the right track with strong demand and a supply chain that should produce 25k deliveries this year reaffirming its guidance,” Wedbush said in a note.

Many are debating the possibility that stocks could be close to bottom after the latest market dip.

Some on Wall Street have earmarked the 30-month moving average near 3,800 for the S&P 500 as the level that could attract dip buyers, but remain wary of suggesting that a bottom is close.

“[W]e still believe the U.S. equity markets are closing in on a significant low for the year, but again this process may take more time and see more damage done before that materializes,” Janney Montgomery Scott said.