US indexes put a end to a 10-month winning streak

• Wall Street plunged for a second consecutive day, on concerns of a faster pace of rate hikes.
• The Dow and the S&P lost roughly 4.0% each in February, the Nasdaq shed 1.9%.

Wall Street posted sharp losses for a second consecutive day, accelerating its slump ahead of the close. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 382 points, and settled at 25,027.96, while the S&P shed 1.11% to close at 2,713.83. February has been the worst month for both of them, in two years roughly down 4.0% each, ending a 10-month winning streak. As for the Nasdaq Composite the index lost this Wednesday 57 points, to end at 7,273.01, while for the month, the index ended 1.9% lower.

Today's losses were due continued speculation of a faster pace in rate hikes under Powell, after the new Fed's head ended its two-day testimony before the Congress. This Thursday, the US will release Fed's favorite inflation measure, the core PCE index, which, if results above expected, may fuel expectations of rate hikes, further hurting equities in the first day of March.

Despite slightly below expected, Q4 GDP second estimate showed that the economy is growing at a solid pace, adding fuel to the fire.

The Dow heads into the Asian session barely holding above the 25,000 mark, and with an increased bearish potential according to the daily chart, although additional declines may become clearer on a break of the intraday low of 25,018. The index would need to advance over 200 points, above 25,320, to re-enter positive territory for the week and begin then, attracting more solid buying interest.