2023-04-14 22:57:16
Por Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street ended lower on Friday as a flurry of mixed economic data appeared to confirm another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve, dampening investor enthusiasm after a series of corporate earnings from major banks North Americans opened the season by earnings for the first quarter.
All three major US stock indexes ended in negative territory, but in the wake of Thursday’s robust rally, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes posted weekly gains.
Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo beat expectations on their balance sheets, benefiting from rising interest rates and easing fears of stress in the banking system.
The S&P 500 banking sector jumped 3.5% and JPMorgan Chase rose 7.6%, its biggest one-day percentage gain since Nov. 9, 2020.
Citigroup advanced 4.8%, while Wells Fargo fell 0.1%.
But a series of mixed economic data, which includes retail sales, industrial production and consumer confidence, has cemented expectations that the Fed will raise rates by another 25 percentage point at next month’s policy meeting.
Those expectations were reinforced by Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who said another 25 percentage point increase could allow the Fed to end its monetary tightening cycle, even as Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee urged the central bank to be prudent.
Financial markets priced in a 74% probability of that happening, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
The Dow Jones fell 0.42% to 33,886.47 points. The S&P 500 lost 0.21% to 4,137.64 points. The Nasdaq technology index fell 0.35% to 12,123.47 points.
Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, seven ended the session lower, with real estate at the bottom. The financial sector had the biggest percentage jump, up 1.1%.
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