Major Wall Street indices rose in these trading moments on Friday, as investors assessed hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Meanwhile, investors are eagerly awaiting important economic data next week for further signals on the direction of monetary policy.
Gold, on the other hand, is down sharply on the back of a stable dollar index, following the release of Michigan index data, in addition to statements from a member of the US Federal Reserve.
Powell said on Thursday that central bank officials were “not sure” that interest rates were high enough to end the battle against inflation, and would not hesitate to tighten monetary policy further if necessary.
The hawkish comments ended the longest winning streak for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in two years, driven by expectations that the Fed was done with its rate hike cycle after the central bank kept interest rates unchanged in its last cycle.
Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond fell to 4.6043%.
Main current stock movements
Mega-growth stocks traded higher, with shares in Nvidia Group (NASDAQ: NVDA), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) rising between 0.5% and 1.4%. Lucid Motors (NASDAQ: LCID) shares fell by 2.5%.
The S&P 500’s Information Technology sector, up 0.9%, led sector gains, with nine of the S&P 500’s 11 major sectors up.
Traders now expect a roughly 68% probability that the Fed will cut rates at the June meeting, compared with bets on a May cut ahead of Powell’s speech.
Despite a lack of economic data this week, investors will receive updates on consumer and producer prices, as well as retail sales, next week, which will help shape interest rate expectations ahead of the Fed’s December meeting.
Wall Street at 6:45 pm
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.1% to 33,922 points.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.15% to 4,354 points.
The Nasdaq index rose 0.37% to 13,572 points.
Markets at 6:50 pm
Gold futures fell 1.3% to $1,944 an ounce.
Meanwhile, spot gold contracts fell 0.95% to $1,940 an ounce.
By contrast, the dollar index rose 0.06% to 105.84 points.
Meanwhile, Brent crude rose 1.4% to $81.1 a barrel.
Texas crude rose by 1.37% to $76.8 a barrel.
