Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos lose combined $12.3 billion amid market rout

Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell sparked a market rout that has slashed the fortunes of the top richest billionaires in the world, except for Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest billionaire worth $136 billion who posted daily gains of $1.66 billion

Elon Musk saw $5.5 billion erased from his wealth. Jeff Bezos lost $6.8 billion, the most of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bernard Arnault, France’s richest person, with a $37 billion fortune, posted daily losses of $5 billion.

The fortunes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett declined by $2.2 billion and $2.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire index

Despite the three-for-one stock split that was implemented by the most valuable electric automaker in the world to attract ordinary investors, Tesla Inc. reported significant sell-offs on Friday.

The S&P 500 saw its lowest day since mid-June, falling 3.4%. The Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., and Alphabet Inc.-led Nasdaq 100, which is heavily weighted in technology, fell more than 4%.

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Maintaining a restrictive stance on policy for some time will probably be necessary to restore price stability. The historical evidence clearly advises against easing policy too soon, Powell said.

As a result of the statements, it appears that inflation may have peaked, but has not yet reached a clear decline.

A sharp decline in energy prices contributed to a minimal change in prices in July, according to the consumer price index and the personal consumption expenditures price index.  The economy is slowing in other sectors as well.

The housing market in particular is fast contracting, and experts predict that the enormous job boom of the previous 18 months will eventually slow.

This year, very few billionaire fortunes have been unaffected. The 500 richest people on earth lost $1.4 trillion in the first half of 2022, the biggest six-month loss in history for the world’s richest people.

However, US stocks experienced their greatest monthly gain since November 2020 in July, which encouraged investors to bet that the worst of the market crash was behind them.