Stocks on Wall Street end lower amid concerns of possible recession, Fed rate hike

Wall Street ended lower after another wobbly session on Tuesday, closing out a rocky month. The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent having recouped about half of its loss from the earlier session. The index managed to eke out a tiny gain for May but only after several abrupt swings.

Last week, the S&P 500 witnessed its biggest weekly gain since late 2020, breaking a seven-week losing streak that nearly brought it into a bear market.

Trading has been turbulent in recent weeks amid worries about a possible recession, inflation and rising interest rates.

Focused on relentlessly rising prices, President Joe Biden plotted an inflation-fighting strategy on Tuesday with the chairman of the Federal Reserve. Like Biden, the Fed wants to slow inflation without knocking the US economy into recession.

Biden is considering easing tariffs to help ease inflation and bring the cost of goods imported down. Biden communicated this to Powell from the White House and said that he will give the Fed space to tackle inflation.

Benchmark US crude oil for July delivery fell 40 cents to $114.67 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude for July delivery rose $1.17 to $122.84 a barrel.