The Federal Reserve wants to slow inflation by tightening monetary policy . But excessive tightening threatens to drag the economy into a recession, so market volatility has increased. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes fell for the fifth straight week, and the Dow Jones fell for the sixth straight week. This is the longest streak of declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since mid-2011 and since late 2012. Cryptocurrencies, a risky asset along with stocks, have stepped into a long decline after a brief period of all-time highs, which means the cryptocurrency market may face more pain.