Midday market 02/21: SPX defends level 4000 after warnings from Walmart and Home Depot

Market opened the morning trading session in a not very optimistic mood after futures began retreating from yesterday, pulling SPX close to touching the important gamma level 4000 continuously in the morning. Most of today's movement comes from investors' perception of macroeconomic factors starting to move in the opposite, negative direction, including sluggish inflation forcing FED to maintain “higher for longer” policy or even raise rate 0.5% next month, warnings of consumer recession signs from businesses blurring the expected “soft landing” scenario and political tensions Russia-US-China after Biden's visit to Ukraine.