All three major stock indices ended the third quarter in a bear market after closing Friday, together having the worst nine-month stretch in a calendar year since 2002, after yet another pessimistic inflation report sent all three indices tumbling at least 1.5%.

While the Dow Jones wavered in and out of bear market territory all week, stocks have generally been falling since the Federal Reserve announced its third round of significant interest rate hikes in just four months, which the majority of economists expect will trigger a recession as a cost of reducing inflation.

On the heels of a higher-than-expected inflation report Friday by the Fed’s preferred inflation metric, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, investors saw more reasons for the Fed to continue its aggressive rate-hike campaign. (RELATED: ‘Until Something Goes Wrong’: Goldman Sachs Warns Investors High Rates Are Here To Stay)