major indexes fell for a sixth straight day and closed at their lowest level in more than two years on wednesday after the federal reserve doubled down on its aggressive interest rate hiking campaign and acknowledged taming inflation may ultimately require a recession after closing at a nearly 27month low on tuesday the techheavy nasdaq ticked down another 9 points or 01 to 10417 points on wednesday while the sp 500 fell nearly 12 points or 03 to post its lowest close since november 2020 though positive earlier in the day stocks struggled in lateday trading after fed officials defended their aggressive policy moves in minutes from their latest meting saying additional rate hikes would help prevent the “far greater economic pain” associated with high inflation and adding that the cost of taking too little action “likely” outweighs the cost of taking too much stocks fell earlier in the week after the bank of england highlighted its own monetary policy struggles announcing it would take additional measures to prop up the united kingdoms recently chaotic bond market and saying dysfunction in the market posed a material risk to financial stability in the nation in a tuesday note lpl financials quincy krosby said the growing global uncertainty has made markets more volatile as investors anxiously await the start of thirdquarter earnings season later this week which should provide more clarity into how companies are faring through the economic turmoil with prolonged inflation forcing central banks to hike interest rates aggressively this year stocks have suffered immensely as a result after surging 27 in 2021 the sp has plummeted 25 this year and the techheavy nasdaq is down 34 morgan stanley projects the sp will ultimately hit a bearmarket low of between 3000 and 3400 points—suggesting the index which is already down 215 this year could still plummet another 10 to 20 what to watch for incoming data is sure to test the market this week the labor department releases inflation data for september on thursday economists expect consumer prices rose 81 on a yearly basis additionally big banks are among the firms kicking off earnings season with charles schwab and goldman sachs slated to report on thursday and jpmorgan and wells fargo on friday does the fed want you to lose your job it’s complicated forbes fed acknowledges rate hikes will fuel unemployment—but warns inflation could cause ‘far greater economic pain’ forbes strong dollar poses looming threat to corporate earnings—but these stocks avoid one of the biggest risks forbes nasdaq hits 2year low as jpmorgan billionaire warns it could take months for stock market to bottom forbes