U.S. stocks open lower on fears central banks’ rate hikes could risk global recession

U.S. stock indexes opened lower on Friday as a wave of interest-rate hikes from European central banks darkened the outlook for the global economy, while fueling concerns that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive monetary tightening path could drive a U.S. recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.42%
dropped 281 points, or 0.8%, to 33,665, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.43%
shed 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.51%
was off 1%, on pace to snap a multi-week winning streak. Fed Chair Jerome said Thursday that Fed officials largely expect the Fed to raise interest rates “a couple of times” later this year, though timing depends on economic data. Meanwhile, the Bank of England and Norway’s central bank both hiked rates by 50 basis points on Thursday with promises that more could come, along with hikes from Switzerland and Turkey as well.