Consumer discretionary stocks were headed sharply lower for a second straight week on Friday, as investors worried the Federal Reserve’s plan to keep interest rates high next year could hurt the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500’s consumer discretionary sector, which tracks companies that make things people might want but probably don’t need, was on pace to book a weekly loss of nearly 4%, according to FactSet. Chair Powell said in his post-statement press conference that the central bank is still waiting for the labor market to pull back notably to stop aggressively adjusting its policy. The Fed sees unemployment rising from 3.7% in November to 4.6% in 2023 and remaining almost unchanged for two years after that.
Data collected by Refinitiv and Ipsos showed that consumer confidence fell to the second-lowest point of 2022, in the week ending December 9.