WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Monday turned out to be a volatile day on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted as much as 1,100 points this morning but managed to recover by the afternoon, ending the day up about 100 points.
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The NASDAQ Composite was down as much as 300 points just after noon but was also in the green by 4 p.m., increasing by about 80 points.
The stock market was headed for the seventh straight day of being in the red before the massive recovery.
Despite Monday's rally, the S&P 500 currently is headed for its worst month since March 2020 when the pandemic began.
Financial experts say the falling stocks are a result of investors anticipating inflation-fighting measures from the Federal Reserve and fret over the possibility of conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
"I think it was surprising how much the market went down today, at least before it came back," said Keith Singer of Singer Wealth Management in Boca Raton.
He sees the overall new year market fall as a correction — a pullback by investors reacting to several things including the empty store shelves, inflation and expected rising interest rates.
"The biggest concern a lot of investors have is the market has been so good because the Federal Reserve has been making the conditions optimal for stocks to grow and the economy to grow. Now, they're doing the opposite," Singer said.
For the professionals on Wall Street, it's part of the risk, but on Main Street, where 401(k)s can rise and fall on these swing days, it can be stressful.
Singer said it's important to keep retirement accounts balanced — not overloaded on one type of stock such as technology. Also, keep in mind corrections in the markets can occur from time to time and most importantly people need to relax.
"I think that you shouldn't worry what's happening on a day-to-day basis because if you have money in the stock market, the idea is over the next 10 to 15 years it will be worth a lot more," Singer said.
Stocks have fallen for much of this year as the market readies for the Fed to raise interest rates to try to tame inflation, which is at its highest level in nearly four decades.
Portions of this article courtesy of the Associated Press