us stocks finished in the red for a fourth straight day on wednesday as all three benchmarks recorded a loss for the month of august after finishing higher in july for the nasdaq the 61 loss over the last four sessions was its biggest fourday drop since late june the dow jones industrial average djia retreated 28044 points or 09 to 3151043 finishing august down 39 the sp 500 spx shed 3116 points or 08 to 395500 bringing its loss for the month to 42 the nasdaq composite comp fell 6693 points or 06 to 1181620 a monthly drop of 46 stocks have been falling since federal reserve chairman jerome powell declared on friday that the fed would continue with its policy tightening even if it caused economic pain for businesses and households