It's been a horror day for ASX shares and the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), no way around it. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has lost a nasty 2.67% and is back to just over 6,820 points. But let's talk about the National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price.
NAB shares have had a shocker today. While the ASX 200 has lost almost 2.7%, NAB shares are down by a far more painful 3.52% at present to $29.22 a share.
So why is the NAB share price tanking by so much more than the broader market?
Well, it's got nothing to do with any news or announcements out of the bank itself, seeing as there are none.
So, that leaves us with the next-most likely explanation: NAB is getting caught up in the general malaise of the markets.
Image source: Getty Images
Why is the NAB share price down 3% today?
Let's backtrack a little. Today has been so brutal due to the inflation data that we saw out of the United States overnight (our time). As we looked at earlier, there are signs that US inflation is raging out of control. It's currently running at 8.3%, far higher than what most commentators were expecting.
As such, there are now fears that the US Federal Reserve will have to amp up its cycle of raising interest rates even more enthusiastically. Higher rates usually bode ill for share prices.
Following this data, the US markets tanked overnight. The S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) fell a shocking 4.32%. So it's perhaps no wonder that the ASX 200 is following suit today.
But why is the NAB share price getting such a hammering? Well, it's probably due to its very nature. ASX bank shares are typically viewed as cyclical. As such, they often get hit harder than the broader market when there are macroeconomic fears at play.
This hypothesis is supported by what we see in other ASX banks today.
It's not just NAB that is enduring outsized selling pressure today. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares have fallen 3.5% as well. The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: NZ) share prices are failing a little better. Both are 'only' down by around 2.5%.
So not a great day for NAB shares, or most other ASX 200 shares today.
At the current NAB share price, this ASX 200 bank share has a market capitalisation of $92.34 billion, with a dividend yield of 4.79%.
