Apple's Decline And Powell's Speech Cause The S&P 500 to Decline

Tuesday's S&P 500 decline was led by losses in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) ahead of a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that could foreshadow the amount of future interest rate increases.

Recent protests over COVID-19 restrictions in China, particularly at the world's largest iPhone manufacturing facility, captured the attention of investors.

Apple's shares declined 2.1% for the fourth trading session in a row.

Wednesday during a Brookings Institution speech, Powell is set to discuss the economic and labor market outlook for the United States. Investors will be looking for signs as to when the Fed will stop its relentless rate hikes.

"Given that Powell will speak tomorrow, nobody is willing to buy now. Everyone is anxious to hear what he has to say "Ron Saba, the senior portfolio manager for Horizon Investments in Charlotte, stated as much.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) all had declines greater than 1 percent.

In November, it is anticipated that the benchmark S&P 500 index will post its second consecutive month of gains on predictions that recent inflation readings indicating a minor decline in prices will force the Federal Reserve to decrease the pace of its interest rate hikes.

In December, the Fed is projected to slow its rate hikes to 50 basis points from 75 basis points previously. 

In November, according to a study released on Tuesday, consumer confidence in the United States fell further due to ongoing concerns about the rising cost of living.

Mainland The newest surge of civil disobedience in China comes as the number of COVID cases reaches daily record highs and as substantial areas of various cities face fresh lockdowns, further threatening the world's second-largest economy.

The S&P 500 energy sector index increased by 1.3%, although gains in oil prices were later offset by fears that OPEC+ may sustain output at its upcoming summit.

The S&P 500 closed at 3,957.60 points, a decrease of 0.16 percent.

The Nasdaq decreased 0.59 percent to 10,983.78 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.01 percent to 33,852.13 points.

Despite the decline of the S&P 500, gaining stocks outpaced losing stocks by a ratio of 1.3 to 1.

The S&P 500 achieved two new highs and three new lows, whilst the Nasdaq recorded 68 new highs and 183 new lows.

Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD), and JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) are Chinese companies with U.S.-listed shares. The value of publicly traded firms surged by more than 5 percent following China's development of equity financing channels for real estate developers.

After reporting excellent quarterly results, shares of Chinese internet service provider Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI) rose 22%.

Compared to the 20-session average of 11.2 billion shares, volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively low, with 9.6 billion shares exchanging hands.