U.S. stocks ended the week on a downbeat note, with all three major indexes dropping as investors worried about rising interest rates and a surge in Covid-19 cases that is slowing the economic recovery in the U.S. and Europe.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen in five of the past six weeks, while the benchmark S&P 500’s weekly percentage decline was its largest in three weeks. Oil prices and bond yields fell. Markets lost ground after a brief rally Wednesday, when Fed officials said they would accelerate the paring back of pandemic-era stimulus measures and potentially raise interest rates three times next year.