NEW YORK (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended in disarray on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones losing ground in the face of the Fed’s aggressive tone on rates, but the Nasdaq holding up thanks to Apple and other tech giants.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.22%, or 74.08 points, to 33,852.66 points.
The broader S&P-500 fell 1.55 points, or 0.04%, to 4,376.86.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced 36.08 points (0.27%) to 13,591.75 points.
Invited to the annual forum of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Sintra, Portugal, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated on Wednesday that most members of the US central bank expect two more rate hikes this year and he does not did not rule out an additional hike in July.
Investors, however, put the Fed Chairman’s remarks into perspective in the light of signs of resistance in economic activity, according to Quincy Krosby, strategist at LPL Financial.
“Given the resilience of the labor market, the economy can probably digest a 25 basis point hike” at the next meeting of the Fed’s monetary policy committee, he said.
Apple stock meanwhile hit an all-time high in session and its second straight closing high, while other groups like Tesla, Microsoft and Alphabet were also among the biggest risers on the S&P.
Chipmaker Nvidia failed to capitalize on the enthusiasm, losing 1.8% after reports from the Wall Street Journal that the United States could impose new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips to China.
(Sinéad Carew, Sruthi Shankar and Johann M Cherian, Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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