United States benchmarks retreated on Thursday (Friday AEST), with the S&P 500 sliding for a fifth day in a row, as traders look to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s key speech at the end of the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152.81 points or 0.3% to close at 44,785.5, the S&P 500 fell 25.6 points or 0.4% to close at 6,370.2, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 72.6 points or 0.3% and settled at 21,100.3.
Investors are looking to hear from Powell at the central bank’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he could offer insights into the path of interest rates that could offer some reprieve about persistent inflation concerns.
Fed funds futures are pricing in a nearly 75% likelihood of the central bank cutting rates at its next policy gathering in September, according to CME Group FedWatch Tool.
Meanwhile, minutes from the Fed’s July meeting showed policymakers are worried about the state of the labour market and inflation, though most agreed that it was too soon to lower interest rates.
Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman dissented against holding rates steady, marking the first time two board members have done so since 1993.
Among reporting companies, Walmart shares fell 4.5% after the retailer missed market expectations for quarterly earnings.
The market this week has been pressured by a heavy bout of tech selling. Investors took in profits from high-flying names including Nvidia, Palantir and Meta Platforms.
For the week, the Dow had declined 0.4%, the S&P 500 was off 1.2% week to date, while the Nasdaq lost 2.4%.
On the bond markets, 10-year and 2-year rates were higher, up 0.9% and 1% to 4.328% and 3.79%, respectively.
