How major US stock indexes fared Thursday 12/22/2022

Stocks closed lower on Wall Street as stronger-than-expected reports on the economy caused worries to flare about interest rates staying high.

The S&P 500 closed 1.4% lower after being down as much as 2.9% earlier. The Nasdaq and the Dow also fell.

Employers laid off fewer workers than anticipated last week and the economy grew more strongly in the summer than expected. Usually that would be good news, particularly when worries are high about a possible recession looming. But it also suggests the Federal Reserve may follow through on its pledge to stay aggressive on economy-crunching interest rates.

On Thursday:

The S&P 500 fell 56.05 points, or 1.4%, to 3,822.39.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 348.99 points, or 1.%, to 33,027.49.

The Nasdaq fell 233.25 points, or 2.2%, to 10,476.12.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 22.85 points, or 1.3%, to 1,754.09.

For the week:

The S&P 500 is down 29.97 points, or 0.8%.

The Dow is up 107.03 points, or 0.3%.

The Nasdaq is down 229.29 points, or less than 2.1%.

The Russell 2000 is down 9.33 points, or 0.5%.

For the year:

The S&P 500 is down 943.79 points, or 19.8%.

The Dow is down 3,310.81 points, or 9.1%.

The Nasdaq is down 5,168.55 points, or 33%.

The Russell 2000 is down 491.23 points, or 21.9%.