Wall Street plunge continues as Dow drops 500 points

Santa Claus delivered more coal to Wall Street on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average shedding more than 500 points and the S&P 500 closing at its lowest level since October 2017.

With investors fretting over looming rate hikes and signs of slowing global growth, the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq indexes continued their luge ride deeper into correction territory — with all three now off more than 10 percent from earlier highs.

The Dow plunged 507.53 points in Monday’s volatile session to close off 2.1 percent at 23,592.98. At its lowest point, the blue chip index was down 643.63 points before recouping losses.

Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also down, falling 2.1 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, as investors rushed for the exits on the absence of good news.

“Everything about the outlook is uncertain, and there is no firm timetable about when the uncertainty will be resolved. Stocks don’t go up on uncertainty ever,” Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, wrote in a note Monday.

Heavy on investors’ minds this week is the Federal Reserve’s rate-hiking path for the next two years.

While the Fed is largely expected to raise interest rates at the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee’s two-day meeting Wednesday, traders will be paying close attention to the Fed’s messaging for 2019 and 2020.

While fewer hikes could be a boon for the stock market, it also would signal that the Fed is less confident about the broader economy.

“Fed rate hikes were thought to be one of the main reasons why stocks fell from the 2018 highs in early October, and now that there may be fewer rate hikes, stocks aren’t happy at all,” Rupkey said.

With traders unsure of how to position themselves, many are heading to the sidelines.

“Given the [stock] volatility few want to have positions before the Fed announces their decision,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at RW Baird, told The Post.

The Fed has raised rates three times this year and faced criticism from President Trump for doing so.

“It is incredible that with a very strong dollar and virtually no inflation, the outside world blowing up around us, Paris is burning and China way down, the Fed is even considering yet another interest rate hike. Take the Victory!” Trump tweeted Monday.

Meanwhile, many on Wall Street noted that this December is bucking the trend of the holiday season being a positive time for markets — hinting that there may be even more tough times ahead.

And while six of the last trading days on the Dow have been negative, analysts aren’t yet seeing the panic-selling that often signals the near end of a decline.

“It is very rare for stocks to suffer this much damage in December, and that could be suggesting stocks are even weaker than they appear,” Bittles said.