Although all three major US stock indices closed far from their session lows, broke a four-day gain streak, having closed Friday with its biggest weekly percentage gains since early November 2020.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 201.94 points, or 0.6%, to 34,552.99, while the S&P 500 lost 1.94 points, or 0.04%, to 4,461.18. The Nasdaq Composite fell 55.38 points, or 0.4%, to 13,838.46.
The central bank must move “quickly” to fight inflation, Powell said at a conference of the National Association for Business Economics, adding that higher-than-usual interest rate hikes could be rolled out if necessary.
“Much of today’s news was preempted last week in (Powell’s) comments,” said Matthew Keator, managing partner of the Keator Group, a wealth management firm. “The difference is that there was some question as to whether a 50 basis point rate hike might be a course of action sooner rather than later.”
Fed funds futures now imply a 60.7% chance of a 50 basis point hike in key interest rates at the next Fed meeting in May, versus 52% before the text of Powell’s speech was published.
Meanwhile, fighting continued in Ukraine, at a time when efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict seemed to be making no progress.
Crude prices continued to rise as the European Union considered joining the United States in a ban on Russian oil, raising supply concerns and helping energy stocks lead gains.
Shares of Boeing Co fell 3.6% after one of its 737-800 planes operated by China Eastern Airlines crashed in southern China with no apparent survivors.
Source: Ambito
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