Market Watch: Overdraft Fees and Stocks Take a Dive

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking into overdraft fees, and stocks got a lot cheaper yesterday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 317 points Thursday and turned negative for 2014. The selloff was fueled by worries over Argentina, which faces debt default for the second time in thirteen years. Geopolitical concerns also continue to weigh on the markets. European companies, including Adidas, Lufthansa and Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD), say tension in Ukraine and Russia is affecting their businesses.

Signals the U.S. economy is strengthening may push the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner than later. But that could actually be good news for folks with money in the bank.

Meanwhile, the CFPB just released a new report looking at rules put in place four years ago that were meant to protect from overdraft fees.

They found a median overdraft charge of $34 on debit transactions of $24 or less. Most consumers are able to cover the fee in three days. But put in lending terms, the charge is the same as a loan with a 17,000% interest rate. It hits consumers disproportionately, with 8% of people incurring 75% of overdraft fees.