NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended the week lower on Friday, dragged down in particular by Microsoft as two Federal Reserve officials cooled investors who had begun betting on a quick end to rate hikes.
The Dow Jones index fell 0.32%, or 108.94 points, to 34,299.12 points.
The broader S&P-500 lost 16.25 points, or 0.37%, to 4,409.59 points.
The Nasdaq Composite fell for its part by 93.25 points (-0.68%) to 13,689.57 points.
As investors seemed to be betting that the slowdown in activity in the United States could force the Federal Reserve to halt its rate hikes faster than it said on Wednesday, Fed Governor Christopher Walker tried to dampen any excessive optimism by declaring on Friday that core inflation “is not going down as I thought it would”.
Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said he was “comfortable” with the idea of ​​further rate hikes by the end of the year, as the central bank has said. reported on Wednesday in order to curb inflation which remains far from the 2% target.
And all the more so as the morale of American households recovered strongly in June, after having reached its lowest level since November in May, the preliminary results of the monthly survey from the University of Michigan show on Friday.
Wall Street, which will remain closed on Monday, went into the red after these statements by Fed officials.
Microsoft’s decline (-1.65%) after its all-time high recorded on Thursday weighed on the S&P-500 and the Nasdaq in particular, which did not prevent the two indices from signing a fifth and eighth week of increases respectively. consecutive.
(Written by Noel Randewich and Sruthi Shankar, Tangi Salaün)
Copyright © 2023 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
