creating 3,000 jobs. the president arguing the policies he s been pursuing, the alliances, the importance of strengthening economic ties in the region will help avoid the economic disruptions that have led to some of the inflation challenges we re seeing by making more things in america. this is a white house that knows full well the numbers that are out in our new nbc news poll this week. 75% of the country feels like we re heading in the wrong direction. a third of americans giving the president strong marks on the economy. the president starting his trip in south korea talking about the economy. he ll be making an announcement about a new auto plant in georgia on sunday, book-ending his important meetings on international challenges by focusing on the economy back at home. thanks. ron, help us put this into perspective. we had a short bear market at the start of the pandemic. how is this different? that was a 34% decline in the s&p 500 in 21 trading days. this has been going on
looking at their 401(k)s and just having a gut-clenching moment, but it s the first time we ve seen this dramatic decline since march 2020 when the pandemic closures began in earnest in the united states. we re seeing the dow off just partially off a percent today, but 4% for the week and this is an eight-week losing streak. we haven t seen that, hallie, since 1923. the s&p off 5% for the week and the nasdaq off 67% and they re on seven-week losing streaks and it coincides with a dramatic rise in inflation and consumers are paying for food, housing, services, you know that. the federal reserve is trying to tackle these skyrocketing costs raisings interest rates half a percent with more hikes likely this year. the market is digesting that and the high value growth and technology stocks have really been dealt the hardest punches.
gillian: deb haaland, 11th straight day of new record highs, that exchange is fueling criticism the administration is out of touch with americans who are getting squeezed from all sides. john: like the stock market, monitoring the s & p 500, officially down 20% from the record highs in january on the s & p, which means, now if it closes where it is today, going to be officially in bear market territory. which, of course, is not good for anybody who has investments in the s & p 500. the selloff fueled by fears that the nation is headed for the big r word, recession. the gillian: on the other side of the world, president biden has kicked off his trip to asia, confronting policy problems while overseas as well.
epf the way to achieve it. we start with that breaking news from wall street. stocks are in a bear market for the first time since the start of the pandemic. why? inflation concerns and the potential of a recession here at home. you can see the dow, the s&p, the nasdaq all down. our economic team is standing by to put this into perspective for your wallet and for your investments. the market roller coaster ride coming as president biden visits allies in asia, highlighting the push to fix the global supply chain problems that are adding rising prices from cars to coffee. and our new reporting on former attorney general bill barr now in talks with the january 6th committee about potentially testifying in front of those investigators. and why ginginni thomas is k
have been disrupted by covid. you know our liz claman there. it s up 8 or 9% this year and opposite of about 10% falloff in the s&p 500. so, he s doing something right. yes, he s beating the s & p. and you know we had a falloff on wall street yesterday, neil. it s a cultish kind of pilgrimage and what else do they hope to see? who else has a meeting with a giant geico gecko. he just took a swipe at wall street and the big boys on wall street who try to game run it ahead of the average investor. they make their money by swooping up the crumbs off off the capitalism table that fall to the ground and he sauls the