Stock market: Wall Street drops again as oil prices & stocks worldwide slide

The Fed held interest rates steady at its last meeting after raising rates aggressively throughout 2022 and into 2023 to tame painfully high inflation

Another drop for stocks has Wall Street on track to close out its first losing week in the last six. The S&P 500 was 0.8% lower in early trading Friday, pulling back further from last week when it reached its highest level in more than a year. The Dow was off 278 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 1%. Stocks fell even more overseas. Europe’s economy appears to be weaker than expected, according to a preliminary report measuring manufacturing and services. That’s adding to this week’s hesitance in markets following more increasese in interest rates by central banks around the world.

Markets on Wall Street pointed lower early Friday as anxiety carried over from a day earlier when a handful of central banks around the world cranked interest rates higher in their fight against inflation.

Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.6% and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%. Barring a turnaround, the benchmark S&P 500 is poised for its first losing week in the past six.