US Tech Stocks Drag Markets Lower on Interest Rate Worries

US stocks opened sharply lower as investors worried that the Fed will make an aggressive effort to suppress inflation.

At 9:47 a.m. ET (13:47 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 225 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.5%. Technology stocks were hit hard early Monday as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks on Friday continued to spook investors. Powell said the central bank will do whatever it takes to bring inflation back into the target range. Rising interest rates hit growth stocks particularly hard. Investors who thought the Fed might start to scale back the size of its rate hikes are now seeing another increasingly larger increase. The Fed has raised rates by 0.75 percentage points at each of its last two meetings. The Fed is scheduled to hold its next meeting on interest rate policy in September. Later this week, investors will receive employment data for August. US-listed Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) shares rose 16% after a positive earnings report. According to Reuters, Covid-19 lockdowns in China have prompted shoppers to shop online. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) fell more than 2% after a downgrade by KeyBanc, citing commodity and European risks. Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!