us stock indexes opened lower on wednesday morning struggling to recover ground after a fourday losing streak amid worries about the chances of an economic downturn in coming months on tuesday the dow jones industrial average fell 351 points or 103 to 33596 the sp 500 declined 58 points or 144 to 3941 and the nasdaq composite dropped 225 points or 2 to 11015 a fourday losing streak during which the sp 500 index has lost 34 showed little sign of being snapped wednesday as investors continued to fret about the potential economic damage inflicted by high inflation and the federal reserves campaign to damp it by raising interest rates the recent run of macro data points in the us continues to underscore relatively solid economic trends and combined with the recent easing in financial conditions it may trigger a need for the fed to push back in december put another way the dove camp is feeling some pain said stephen innes managing partner at spi asset management jim reid strategist at deutsche bank  noted that the sp 500 had now lost ground in the last seven out of eight sessions in fact the latest moves for the sp mean its now unwound the entirety of the rally following fed chair powells supposedly dovish speech last week which makes sense on one level given he didnt actually say anything particularly new the sp 500 has fallen 173 in 2022 as the federal reserve has driven borrowing costs sharply higher in an effort to tame inflation that has been running at the fastest pace in 40 years the feds monetary tightening alongside stubborn inflation may deliver a marked economic slowdown senior bankers such as jpmorgans jamie dimon and goldman sachss david solomon warned this week fears are growing that economies are in for a rough time ahead as feverish inflation and the bitter interest rate medicine being used to bring it down take effect said susannah streeter senior investment and markets analyst hargreaves lansdown worries deepened amid warnings from us banking and media sectors that navigating through the storm would not be easy while the latest data has shown chinas trade has been sideswiped by a drop in global demand and zerocovid policies despite todays easing of restrictions its clear chinas covid nightmare is not at an end streeter added china on wednesday announced a series of measures rolling back some of its most draconian anticovid19 restrictions people who test positive for the virus will be able to isolate at home rather than in overcrowded and unsanitary field hospitals and schools where there have been no outbreaks must return to inclass teaching according to the national health commission the hang seng index in hong kong fell 32 while the csi 300 dropped 02 suggesting investors had already discounted beijings more relaxed covid stance however long time bull tom lee head of research at fundstrat reckons equities will benefit in coming weeks as investors start to get greater clarity on when the fed may stop tightening policy we dont think the end of the inflation war in 2022 is the fed cutting rates it is when fed and markets see sufficient progress in inflation to remove the upside risks to higher rates we think this could happen as early as the november cpi report this will be released on 1213 lee wrote in a note and if november cpi is soft we think this will support a strong yearend rally admittedly a 10 move between now and year end seems a stretch given the sp 500 is around 4000 but the broader point is we see stocks having positive skew given the cautious positioning of investors and the possibility of very favorable incoming inflation reports lee added on the us economic front nonfarm productivity which measures hourly output change per worker rose at a 08 annualized rate last quarter the labor department said on wednesday unit labor costs the price of labor per single unit of output climbed by a smaller 24 annual pace in the third quarter compared to the preliminary 35 increase what companies are in focus