U.S. stocks fell Friday, closing out a losing week, month and quarter as investors wrestled with more signs of persistently high inflation. Major indexes have sustained deep losses this year as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates in an attempt to tame rising prices. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite on Friday all recorded their worst first nine months of a calendar year since 2002, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Stocks had rallied for two months beginning in June as investors hoped that inflation would cool and the Fed would pull back on its aggressive rate increases. But price pressures have remained stubbornly high, and Fed officials made clear that the monetary tightening would continue. Last week, the central bank unveiled another supersize rate increase and signaled that additional large rate raises were likely. The final week of the quarter saw stocks reach new […]