Volatility In Markets Drops, US Stocks Down For Third Straight Session

U.S. stocks fell for a third session in a row on Friday and recorded losses for the second straight week amid increasing recession worries.

The Federal Reserve raised its target fed funds rate by 0.5% to a new range of between 4.25% and 4.5%, and signaled more rate hikes for 2023.

For the week, the Dow Jones dropped around 1.7%, while the S&P lost about 2.1%.

On the economic data front, the S&P Global manufacturing PMI declined to 46.2 in December from 47.7 in the previous month, and compared to market estimates of 47.7. US services PMI also dropped to 44.4 in December from 46.2 a month ago and compared to market views of 46.8.

Shares of Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: META) gained 2.8% on Friday after JP Morgan upgraded the stock from Neutral to Overweight and raised its price target from $115 to $150.

All the major sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a negative note, with real estate and consumer discretionary stocks recording the biggest plunge on Friday.

The Nasdaq 100 dipped 0.89% to close at 11,243.72 on Friday, amid losses in shares of Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft Corp MSFT and Tesla Inc TSLA. The S&P 500 fell 1.11%, while the Dow Jones lost 0.85% to 32,920.46 in the previous session.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange's CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 0.9% to 22.62 points on Friday.

What is CBOE Volatility Index?

The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market's expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.