The S&P 500 had its worst day in over a month, and the Dow closed down 600 points.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 600 points on Wednesday as investors cashed in on some solid January 2023 gains and with a disappointing December retail sales reading stoking recession fears. Banks led the losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 613.89 points, or 1.81 percent, to 33,296.96 points. The S&P 500 lost 1.56% to close at 3,928.86, its lowest level since December 15th. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.24% to end the day at 10,957.01, snapping a seven-day winning streak.

“We had a strong start to the year, but now we’re in the midst of a tense earnings season, and recently had weaker data — yesterday’s retail sales and Empire State manufacturing survey. Plus the February 1st Fed meeting looms large,” said Young Yu. Ma, chief investment strategist at BMO Wealth Management “There’s not a lot of reason to be aggressive here, but all of the above factors suggest that caution is required in the near term.”

JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo fell as the 10-year US Treasury yield fell to its lowest level since September. Shares of regional banks such as Zion and Fifth Third recorded the biggest losses.

Elsewhere, Microsoft has announced plans for Lay off about 10,000 employees, which hurt the feelings of investors. The stock fell, dragging the Dow Jones down with it.

In the economic data, investors digested the latest retail The numbers, which showed a decline of 1.1% in December, up slightly from expectations of 1%.

They also weighed The latest reading of the producer price index, which measures the input costs of firms. The producer price index showed a decline of 0.5% for the month of December. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected a decline of 0.1%. This gave brief relief to investors who were hoping for inflation to ease and for the Federal Reserve to slow its campaign to raise interest rates.

Investors have been enjoying strong upward momentum in the stock since the start of the year, although many have been I began to doubt the power of the market Even before wed slipped. The Dow is still up 0.45% for the month, while the S&P and Nasdaq are still up 2.33% and 4.69%, respectively.