US equities plunged, worst day in history for Dow

• Equities fall on panic selling, market payers overreacting to wages´ uptick.
• Fears inflation is finally picking up and will back a steeper pace of rate hikes triggered the slump.

Equities were trading lower in the US, but all hell broke loose ahead of the close, as the Dow plunged at some point 1,500 points, to close the day roughly 1,175 points lower, to settle at 24,345.75, its worst daily point plunge in history. The Nasdaq Composite lost 273 points, and ended at 6,967.53, while the S&P shed 4.10%, and closed at 2,648.96. All sector closed lower, with the Dow erasing all of its 2018 gains, with investors rushing into safe-haven bonds and gold, keeping this last afloat for the day.

Fears inflation is finally picking up and will back a steeper pace of rate hikes has all of the sudden become a major concern, but the market seems to have overreacted, considering such fears were triggered by a stand-alone increase in wages in  January.

Technical outlook

The Dow settled at its lowest since early December, and the daily chart shows that it broke below its 100 DMA for the first time since May last year. The indicator currently stands at 24,380. In the same chart, technical indicators head south almost vertically, having entered oversold territory and with no signs of changing course, supporting some further declines ahead.

Shorter term, the 4 hours chart shows that the index stands some 160 points below its 200 SMA, breaking below all of its moving averages for the first time last September, while technical indicators head lower within extreme oversold readings, keeping the risk toward the downside, albeit wild swings will likely continue for a couple more sessions.