The S&P 500 had its worst day since mid-June as interest rate concerns returned to Wall Street.

Stocks tumbled on Wall Street Monday, with the S&P 500 dropping the most in more than two months, and a speech this week by Jerome H. Powell, Federal Reserve Chairman, looming over investors focused on the track of interest rates in months. coming.

The benchmark index fell 2.1 percent, its biggest daily drop since June 16. The heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.5 percent, almost erasing its August gains.

The stock market reversed some of its recent bounce, gains fueled by a batch of better than expected Corporate Earnings Reports and report it Inflation had cooled off in July. Monday’s drop followed a slight drop last week, which came on the heels of four consecutive weekly gains that lifted the S&P 500 index more than 17 percent.

The sudden swing shows that investors realize they are still out of the woods when it comes to the Federal Reserve, remembering the high inflation and a series of big interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve this year that helped drive stock prices sharply lower. Inflation readings for July, which showed that gains in consumer prices held steady from the previous month, spurred hopes that the central bank may ease its campaign to increase borrowing costs.

Victoria Green, chief investment officer at J Squared Private Wealth, said it seemed to investors that such a conclusion was premature.

“People come back to the fact that the world is still a very mysterious place,” she said.

Mr. Powell’s speech on Friday, at the central bankers’ meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, may help clarify the Fed’s inflation outlook. Economists He will hear clues as to whether the Fed will make another three-quarter point increase in interest rates at its September meeting or go with a half-point increase.

Monday’s trading reflected concerns that policy makers may opt for a more aggressive approach. Large jumps in borrowing costs help contain inflation by slowing the economy, but they also make it difficult for businesses to grow and increase the cost of borrowing and spending for consumers.

on Monday, A questionnaire From the National Association of Business Economists showed that nearly three-quarters of corporate economists were skeptical that the Fed could reach its 2 per cent inflation target in the next two years without triggering a recession. 52 percent of respondents said they were “not completely confident” of the Fed’s efforts to fight inflation, and 21 percent said they were “not at all confident”.

“The concern is that the Fed is going to do everything it can now to remind people that they are still raising rates,” Green said.

Several central bank policymakers this month suggested that The Federal Reserve remains determined to control inflation And you’ll likely keep pushing your borrowing costs higher until you do.

Monday’s pessimistic mood affected other markets as well. Government bond yields rose, with the yield on 10-year Treasuries rising above 3 percent for the first time since July 20. The yield on the two-year Treasury bonds jumped to 3.32 percent.

The price of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell more than 2% to $21,084. The cryptocurrency is down more than 54 percent since the beginning of the year.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 is down nearly 1 percent, leaving the overall index down more than 22 percent since the start of the year. The drop came as natural gas prices in Europe rose more than 14 percent after Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned energy company, announced that Nord Stream 1, a major supplier of natural gas to Europe, would halt production for three days starting From August 31.

Tuesday’s sell-off continued in Asia, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index down 1.1 percent by midday, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 0.5 percent. Shares also fell in Australia, South Korea and Taiwan. The benchmark Shanghai Stock Exchange, which saw a rise outside the region, was higher after China’s plan to cut interest rates to support the country’s real estate sector.

Vivek Shankar Contribute to the preparation of reports.