Stocks sink as investors brace for another big rate hike

Stocks opened lower on Wall Street as investors brace for another big interest rate increase this week from the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 dropped 28 points, or 0.7%, to 3,862, as of 9:49 a.m. Eastern time, while the Dow Jones industrials fell 231 points, or 0.9%, to 30,691. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 85 points.

Markets have been on edge because of stubbornly high inflation and the increases in interest rates being used to fight it. The fear is that the Fed and other central banks might overshoot their policy targets, triggering a recession.