Main Street dumped stocks at the fastest pace since the depth of the pandemic over two years ago as the Federal Reserve drove home its commitment to aggressive rate hikes in its inflation battle. Retail traders were sellers of U.S. equities for a second week in a row, exiting $2.4 billion worth of single stocks last week, according to JPMorgan. The last two weeks represented the worst selling in single stocks since March 2020, the Wall Street firm said. The big selling came as extreme volatility gripped the stock market. The S & P 500 lost more than 9% last month as the Fed vowed to stick to its tightening path to fight inflation, stoking recession fears. The third quarter marked the first time in about 80 years where the S & P 500 suffered a quarterly loss after being up more than 10% at one point, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Megacap tech names like Apple , Meta , Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft suffered heavy selling last week, JPMorgan data showed. Technology stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off as rising rates hit growth-focused companies particularly hard. Retail investors also dumped Nike last week at a fast pace after the company reported a 44% increase in inventories for its latest quarter, and said it would offer more discounts heading into the holiday season. Chipmakers AMD and Nvidia also experienced heavy selling from the retail cohort as shares came under pressure along with the broader market.
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