US STOCKS-Wall Street drops; S&P 500 relinquishes summer gains

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Fed rate hikes have investors 'throwing in the towel'

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Nasdaq stocks post 505 new 52-week lows

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Casinos jump as Macau allows tour groups after nearly 3 years

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Indexes: Dow -1.00%, S&P 500 -0.81%, Nasdaq -0.18%

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments through early afternoon trading)

By Noel Randewich and Shreyashi Sanyal

Sept 26 (Reuters) -

Wall Street slid further into bear market territory on Monday as investors fretted that the Federal Reserve's aggressive campaign against inflation could throw the U.S. economy into a sharp downturn.

After two weeks of mostly steady losses on the U.S. stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was on the verge of confirming it has been in a bear market since early January. The S&P 500 index confirmed in June it was in a bear market, and it was on track to end the session below its mid-June closing low, extending this year's overall selloff.

With the Fed signaling last Wednesday that high interest rates could last through 2023, the S&P 500 has relinquished the last of its gains made in a summer rally.

"Investors are just throwing in the towel," said Jake Dollarhide, Chief Executive Officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. "It's the uncertainty about the high-water mark for the Fed funds rate. Is it 4.6%, is it 5%? Is it sometime in 2023?"

Confidence among stock traders was also shaken by dramatic moves in the global foreign exchange market as sterling hit an all-time low on worries that the new British government's fiscal plan released Friday threatened to stretch the country's finances.

That added an extra layer of volatility to markets worried about a global recession amid decades-high inflation. The CBOE Volatility index, hovered near three-month highs.

The Dow was down 20.4% from its record high close on Jan. 4. According to a widely used definition, ending the session down 20% or more from its record high close would confirm the Dow has been in a bear market since hitting its January peak.

In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1% at 29,294.44 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.81% to 3,663.4.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.18% to 10,847.87.

Shares of casino operators Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands Corp and Melco Resorts & Entertainment jumped between 12% and 25% after Macau planned to open to mainland Chinese tour groups in November for the first time in almost three years.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 4.83-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.07-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 111 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 12 new highs and 505 new lows.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Shounak Dasgupta and David Gregoro)