New York, April 30 (IANS) Marked by stomach-churning volatility and murderous losses in once-popular tech trades, the has recorded its worst start to a year in the first four months of 2022 in more than 80 years, with the biggest drop in April, down 4.9%, contributing to the troubling and bearish tone, MarketWatch reported.

The broad market S&P 500 SPX closed Friday down 13.3%, marking the most disgraceful four-month period to start a calendar year since 1939, when it fell 17.3%, the report said. .

The other major stock indexes aren’t faring much better. The tech-laden Nasdaq composite index ended down 21.2%, the biggest such drop since its inception in 1971.

The 9.3% year-to-date close in 2022, which would be the worst start to the year for blue chips since the Covid pandemic took hold in the US in 2020, when it fell 14 .69%, MarketWatch reported.

Markets are crashing amid a litany of problems and sentiment that has been fragile, with a key measure of the overall health of the US economy, gross domestic product, contracting at a rate 1.4% annual growth in the first quarter, crippled by supply chain bottlenecks and a growing trade deficit, although consumer and business spending were bright spots.

–IANS

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