Tuesday saw a decline in US stocks as investors worried about an extended period of rising interest rates and declining economic confidence. The dollar added a sixth day to its winning streak.
The afternoon session saw a sharper decline in market prices, with the S&P 500 Index plunging 1.5% and the Nasdaq 100 declining 1.5%. With news that consumer confidence in the largest economy in the world stalled this month, slipping to 103 from a revised 108.7 in August, and missing the median estimate of 105.5 in a survey of economists, the equity benchmarks dropped to their lowest levels since early June. The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, a measure of anxiety on Wall Street, increased and closed at its highest level since May.
Other surveys also revealed that over the summer, as purchasers competed for a limited number of listings, home prices in the US soared to a record high while purchases of new homes plummeted to a five-month low.
