Stock markets plunged Friday after comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicating that the central bank would continue raising interest rates until inflation is brought down from its current 40-year high of 8.5%.

Powell told a summit of bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the Fed is focused on raising borrowing rates on a sustained basis, even if it means slowing down hiring, consumer spending and overall growth in the larger economy, according to news accounts. Powell termed those “the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation.”

“While higher interest rates, slower growth and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses,” Powell said.

In response, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points Friday, finishing down around 3% at the close of trading. All 11 industry sectors within the S&P 500 were down for the day, with technology hit hardest in anticipation of higher interest rates to come.

Analysts will be watching in coming weeks for August indicators, including data on annual inflation and employment, and the Fed’s next moves after a series of hikes in its key lending rate. Powell said the Fed’s next rate decision, including whether to slow the pace of hikes, “will depend on the totality of the incoming data and the evolving outlook.”

The quest to boost domestic production of batteries, computer chips and other crucial automaking components is also generating real estate development, and Oklahoma may be among the latest benefactors.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic, a major battery supplier to electric vehicle maker Tesla, is in talks to build an electric vehicle battery plant representing an investment of approximately $4 billion, and is looking at Oklahoma as the location, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said Panasonic is in talks to build what would be an addition to a previously announced battery factory slated to be built in De Soto, Kansas, also at a cost of about $4 billion. Sources said Kansas and Oklahoma both offer locations with convenient access to Tesla’s newly built electric vehicle factory in the Austin, Texas, area, though specific Oklahoma locations have not been identified.

Panasonic has said its U.S. priorities include commercializing a new type of lithium-ion battery that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called “the world’s most advanced cell.”

Two key federal measures enacted this year are expected to boost development of manufacturing and other facilities geared to supporting future widespread use of alternative technologies, including electric vehicles. Most recently, the government approved major subsidies for domestic production of crucial computer chips, which are already spawning plans for new industrial facilities in states including Idaho, Arizona and Ohio.

Rising interest rates have yet to take a major toll on commercial or residential mortgage payments, with U.S. delinquencies remaining historically low for both categories.

Financial data analytics firm Black Knight reported Aug. 24 that the residential loan delinquency rate for July was 2.89%, up slightly from the prior month but well down from about 4% a year earlier. The measure tracks loans that are 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure.

Black Knight researchers said foreclosure process starts totaled 17,700 in July, about 55% below pre-pandemic levels for the same month and amounting to just 3% of loans that are 90 or more days past due.

The delinquency rate for loans behind properties packaged as commercial mortgage-backed securities fell to 2.91% in July, down 10 basis points from June, financial ratings firm KBRA reported in late July. Commercial loan delinquencies remain well down from the pandemic-era peak of 8.2% in June 2020.

Analysts note that many of today’s loans were taken out for terms of 15 years or longer, as borrowers locked in fixed rates that remained historically low for several years before this year’s series of rate hikes spurred by Fed increases in its own key lending rate. Current loan demand has been sliding in the face of mortgage rate hikes among other factors this year.