S&P 500 slips as recession fears bite

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 slipped Wednesday, led by tech as the bond market continued to sound the alarm on a recession, souring investor sentiment on stocks.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, or 58 points, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.68%.

The 2-10 Treasury yield curve inverted by 82 basis points, the biggest inversion in about four decades, signaling increasing concerns about a potential recession.  

“As the economy moves toward official recession in the months ahead, we believe the equity markets will start to price in the severity of the recession,” Janney Montgomery Scott said in a note.

Against the backdrop of growing recession fears, big tech continued to struggle, with Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) falling more than 1%.

Travel and leisure stocks were also wounded by fears about the impact of recession on the consumer. Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ:ABNB), Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BKNG) and Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) were down more than 4%.

Energy stocks were flat, shrugging off a more than 2% slump in crude following data showing a large increase in U.S. petroleum product stockpiles including gasoline offsetting somewhat positive news about demand as China eases COVID restrictions.

Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL), Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB), and Baker Hughes Co (NASDAQ:BKR) fell about 2%.

On the earnings front, investors digested mixed quarterly results.

Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results even as the housing market was hurt by higher mortgage rates. Its shares jumped more than 6%.

Entertainment company Dave&Buster’s Entertainment (NASDAQ:PLAY) however, fell 7% even as its third-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates.

Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW), meanwhile, bucked the trend to rise to more than 4% after reaffirming its full-year guidance and rolling out a new $15 billion stock buyback program.

In a sign of the skittish investor sentiment on risk assets, defensive corners of the market including health care and consumer staples were in favor, with the latter boosted by a surge in Campbell Soup .

Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB) rose more than 4% after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results, underpinned by price hikes and supply chain improvements.

In other news, Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) slumped nearly 40% after its largest creditors reportedly agreed to cooperate together in negotiations with the company, adding fears that bankruptcy is looming for the online car dealer.