U.S. Stocks Open Lower as Fed's Powell Faces Senate on Inflation By

© Reuters.

By Liz Moyer

-- U.S. stocks opened lower on continued recession fears as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell prepares to answer lawmakers’ questions about the economy.

At 9:50 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 239 points or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.5%.

Powell will shortly appear this morning in the Senate Banking Committee to give his semiannual update on the state of the economy. The text of his prepared remarks repeats his promise that the central bank is strongly committed to taming inflation and that continued rate hikes are appropriate.

Today’s early selloff comes after a surge in stocks on Tuesday as investors tried to put an ugly last week in the distance.

Banks are already raising their expectations for a recession. Yesterday Goldman set the odds at 30% in the next year, while Citigroup is now saying there’s a 50% chance of a global recession as consumers pull back on spending.

President Joe Biden has been trying to do his part to ease inflation. Later today he is expected to call on Congress to suspend the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel for three months. 

Energy stocks are getting crushed by falling oil prices. Crude Oil WTI Futures fell more than 5%, to $103 a barrel, and Brent Oil Futures crude was down 5.4% to $108.25. Gold Futures was up 0.4% to $1,845.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) stock fell more than 6%, while Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) shares fell more than 7%. Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) fell 5%. 

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