Description: 

Wall Street is now suffering losses that are impacting the retirement savings of millions. 

Transcription: 

Whit: Turned down to the financial squeeze on so many Americans. Gas and food prices spiking and some crucial pandemic relief measures come to an end. The latest hit coming with a devastating week on Wall Street. The worst start to a year since 2016. Here's ABC's Deirdre Bolton Deirdre Bolton: Tonight's American families squeezed under growing economic pressure hammering their finances on multiple fronts. Wall Street off to its worst start to a year since 2016. The down plummeting more than 1700 points this week. The S P 500 and NASDAQ posting their worst week since the early days of the pandemic. Stocks that have soared during the health crisis like Zoom, Netflix, even Amazon all taking deep dives. This week's market plunge wiping out more than seven thousand three hundred dollars from the average American's 401k retirement fund. At the gas station and the supermarket. Customers hit with sticker shock. >> Either fill it up or walk. Deirdre Bolton: Supply chain issues and near 40-year high inflation sending prices skyrocketing. The cost of meats poultry fish and eggs surging 12 and a half percent compared to last year. The price hikes effectively erasing many of the hard-fought wage increases workers have negotiated during the pandemic. >>We're going to see consumers tighten their belts. Deirdre Bolton: Adding to the misery for tens of millions of families. The recent expiration of expanded child tax credits. Critical pandemic relief that provided parents with monthly payments of up to three hundred dollars per child. Lara Lawson: It would be a week's worth of groceries, frankly. Um, that's what it what it equates to for us. It makes me feel just upset. Deirdre Bolton: Also expiring mortgage relief passed as part of the cares act. This as housing prices rise for the longest streak in almost a decade. Mortgage rates have been moving higher these last three weeks experts say that is likely to continue in 2022. Rents also forecast to rise. Whit: And one thing after another. All right Deirdre. Thank you. 

Question: 

1. Explain why are prices in Wall Street soaring?

2. What stocks that have soared during the health crisis? 

3. What rates has been moving higher?