Stocks sink to new low for 2022, closing dismal month with mounting recession fears
CBSN
Wall Street is at its worst levels in almost two years Friday as the end nears for what's been a miserable month for markets around the world.
The S&P 500 closed down 1.5%, at 3,585, after flipping between small losses and gains through the morning. It's at its lowest level since the early 2020 coronavirus crash and its third straight losing quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 500 points, or 1.7%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 1.5%.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.