By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 stumbled Thursday as tech returned to the firing line after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell teed up the prospect of a 50 basis-point hike at May meeting.  

They fell 0.3% and 0.5% respectively, or 165 points. The dropped 0.2%.

Powell stated that 50 basis points would be available for the May meeting during an IMF panel discussion on Thursday.

The Fed chairman didn’t shy away from hinting that the central bank could hike aggressively at the start of the tightening cycle, by front-loading 50 basis-point rate hikes at future meetings.    

The U.S. Treasury yields responded quickly, rising to close to 3 percent, driving tech growth lower.

Meta, formerly Facebook (NASDAQ:) led the decline in big tech, falling 6%, while Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:), Amazon (NASDAQ:),  Microsoft  (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:) were also in the red.

Netflix (NASDAQ:) posted the largest single-day fall since 2004, Wednesday. The drop was more than 3%. Famed investor Bill Ackman, who bought the dip in Netflix in January, said his hedge fund Pershing Square had exited its position at a loss.

Tesla (NASDAQ:) proved the exception to the broader market selloff after the electric vehicle reported quarterly results that beat analysts’ expectations on both the top and bottom lines despite supply chain and input cost pressures.

“[T]hese ‘Cinderella-like’ numbers and good guidance in a brutal supply chain backdrop speaks to an EV demand trajectory that looks quite robust for Tesla throughout 2022 with a massive 2H ahead,” Wedbush said in a note.

Airline stocks racked up gains as stronger-than-expected results from United Airlines (NASDAQ:) and American Airlines (NASDAQ:), stoked optimism about a pick-up in travel demand.

“What stood out from the [United Airlines] earnings release was the record revenue guide for the June quarter,” Deutsche Bank said in a note. “Furthermore, the company reiterated full year profitability for 2022.”

AT&T Inc (NYSE:), meanwhile, was also in the ascendency after the telecom giant reported first-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates.

The market was also affected by energy, which fell more than 2 %, due to weakness Baker Hughes (NASDAQ) APA (NASDAQ :), and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:)