Market Volatility Drops Following Powell's Comments; S&P 500 Down For Third Straight Session

The S&P 500 settled lower on Wednesday following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during his congressional testimony.

Powell signaled that additional hikes may be forthcoming to bring inflation back to the Fed’s target. Powell will testify before the Senate Banking Committee today.

All three major stock indexes recorded losses for the third consecutive session.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) reported better-than-expected earnings for its fourth quarter, while sales missed estimates. The company announced that its executive vice president and CFO Michael Lenz will retire from his role, effective July 31.

Major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a mixed note, with information technology and communication services stocks recording the biggest losses on Wednesday. However, energy and utilities stocks closed higher during the session.

The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.35% to close at 14,867.45 on Wednesday, amid losses in shares of Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

The S&P 500 fell 0.52%, while the Dow Jones dropped 0.30% to 33,951.52 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 4.9% to close at 13.20 on Wednesday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.

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