Equity traders resumed their selling on Tuesday bringing the downtrend to three weeks and the market to a five-week low. The selling intensified under mounting fear the FOMC will not quit hiking interest rates until inflation is in control and that it could mean a very deep recession. The S&P 500 shed about 1.5% at the low of the day and it looks like it will retest the 3,700 level sooner rather than later.

Market fear was stocked by a hotter-than-expected JOLTs figure. The number of job openings surged to 11.2 million and just shy of record highs despite an expectation for openings to fall to 10. million. The figures suggest economic activity is still hot enough to underpin wage inflation if not broader inflation and support the idea of another aggressive FOMC rate hike. The odds of a third 75 basis point hike rose above 70% following the news and the next FOMC meeting is only 3 weeks away.