Stock Market Falls as Recession Gets Harder to Ignore | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Brittany Raymer.

    The stock market is a on a downward trajectory as the latest economic numbers show that the reality of recession is harder to ignore. The country has its official second successive quarter of negative growth, shrinking by 0.6%.

    CNBC is reporting that the S&P 500 hit a new low for the year, and one of its largest percentage drops in 20 years, as the once strongly performing Apple stock drops by 6.9%, just weeks after announcing the latest iPhone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell by 458.13 points or 1.54%, in addition to the Nasdaq Composite.

    Though the jobless report remains surprisingly low, all economic indicators look bad for the economy, with recession now impossible to ignore as the country has officially two quarters of negative growth.

    Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller stated, "I will be stunned if we don't have a recession in '23. I don't' know the timing but certainly by the end of '23. I will not be surprised if it's not larger than the so-called average garden variety. I don't rule out something really bad."

    Described by Market Watch as one of Wall Street's most respected minds, his comments are deeply troubling.

    Despite the worrying news, the Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo is trying to allay fears and maintain the administration's party line that the economy is doing fine.

    "Consumer confidence is still high. Consumer and corporate balance sheets are healthy. We have a great deal of momentum in the labor market in which we get more than 300,000 jobs over the last three months on average," he said at the Delivering Alpha Investing Summit.

    That's not what North Carolinians are feeling.

    The latest Civitas Poll revealed that a majority of people in the Tar Heel State are struggling with three basic essentials: gas, food and housing.

    When it comes to gas, 56.5% of people are finding it difficult to afford the cost right now, and that's even after the price at the pump has decreased. Housing is a little better, with 48.5% of citizens struggling to keep up with housing payments, whether they rent or own. Food, which has spiked in price, has remained challenging for 52.9% of people.

    The majority of those polled also shared their belief that "we are already" or "likely" in a recession.

    It's unclear how Hurricane Ian's damage will impact the economy, though it looks like it will take months for Fort Meyers to recover. North Carolina also may have its own rebuilding process.