Why is the stock market down so much?

As they have all year, companies are reporting mostly good financial results for the third quarter. But this time around, executives have been talking about the challenges they face with rising production and materials costs and relatively new tariffs. Some of these executives say their profit margins risk getting squeezed by these factors, adding they might have to pass rising costs on to customers, if they haven’t already.

Seven out of 11 sectors of the S&P 500 are in correction territory, meaning they have lost 10 percent or more since their most recent highs. Hardest hit are materials stocks, financials, energy and industrials. Consumer staples are a bright spot, on pace for their fifth straight month of gains fueled by Procter & Gamble and others.

Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, is at 25, the highest it’s been since the market swoon earlier this year. It’s an index that tries to measure what direction traders think the S&P will take in the near term.