After a couple of bullish weeks, stocks, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies were down on Jan. 25, 2023. As investors awaited the next U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, the state of the U.S. economy showed a great deal of weakness. Earnings reports from Microsoft, Union Pacific, Texas Instruments, and others on Wednesday indicated that the economy was not improving and added to lingering concerns about a potential U.S. recession.

All four benchmark stock indexes in the U.S. — DJIA, SPX, IXIC, and RUT — were down between 1% and 2.05% during the early morning trading sessions on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning into the afternoon, the four benchmark stock indexes the U.S. — the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the S&P 500 (SPX), the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC), and the Russell 2000 (RUT) — were all down between 1% and 2.05%. In addition to lackluster earnings reports from some of the country’s largest firms, industrial production in the U.S. slipped roughly 0.7% in December 2022.

Industrial production also dropped in November 2022, falling 0.6% year-over-year. Another shocker was the fact that retail sales during the holiday season were also low in November and December 2022. Data indicates that retail sales slipped 1.1% last month and, while the holidays were in full effect, it was the largest drop of the year.$BTC.X $BUSD.X $USDT.X