Entertainment and Communication Stocks Took Baton of Worst Decliners from Social Networks

U.S. equities fell for a fourth straight day on concerns that Federal Reserve monetary tightening to battle inflation could trigger a recession. Hopes for a so-called “Santa Claus rally” faded amid worries about the impact of last week’s Fed announcement suggesting interest rates will remain high through next year. Bond yields jumped, with the rate on the 10-year Treasury note gaining 10 basis points (bps).

As has been the case in the recent selloff, tech stocks were among the biggest losers. Meta Platforms (META) shares plummeted 4%, Amazon (AMZN) shares plunged 3%, and Google Alphabet (GOOGL) lost 2%. Shares of Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Tesla (TSLA) declined.

Disney Movie mogul Walt Disney (DIS) was the worst-performing stock in the Dow as ticket sales for the sequel to its blockbuster movie, Avatar, called Avatar: The Way of Water, were lower than expected in its opening weekend at the box office. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Netflix (NFLX), and other streaming providers slumped. Nike (NKE) and FedEx (FDX) shares dropped ahead of their earnings reports tomorrow. Shares of cruise lines sank.

Today, major equity indexes in the U.S. traded slightly lower in late premarket. Investors will be waiting for the housing starts report for November, after yesterday's data showed the corresponding index fell to its minimum since 2012. FedEx, Nike and BlackBerry will also post their earnings releases after the markets close.

The Dow Jones was moving higher by 0.17% at noon CET, while the Nasdaq Composite lost just 0.04% and the S&P 500 dropped 0.17%.

Major European benchmarks are also trading in negative territory as investors took seriously the latest monetary policy decisions from China and Japan whose policy tweak caused the dollar to plunge against the yen.

Traders turn their sights to the economic outcome of the European Union's decision to set a gas price ceiling of €180 per megawatt-hour (MWh).

The German DAX fell by 0.34%, as Siemens (SIE.DE) pulled the index down by same 0.34%. The British FTSE 100 dropped by 0.09%, with Sage Group (SGE.L) losing 2.52%, and the French CAC 40 retreated by 0.45%, as Engie (ENGI.PA) plummeted by 5.59%.

Equities on Asian markets traded mostly lower earlier this morning after the People's Bank of China (PBoC) released its decision to keep neutral its monetary policy in December. The central bank's one-year loan prime rate will remain unchanged, standing at 3.65% and its 5Yr loan prime was set at 4.30%, the same as in November.

As a result of the session, in mainland China, the Shanghai Composite lost by 0.67% at the market close, with the Shenzhen Composite falling 1.18%. Concurrently, South Korea's Kospi stood flat and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped by 1.58%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.66%. At the close, Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 2.46%.