Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq ended in negative territory – Third straight week of decline for the Dow Jones, longest streak since September.
Wall Street indices came under pressure in trading on Friday as the prospect of further monetary policy tightening weighed on investor sentiment, but the Dow Jones managed to return to positive territory in the final hour before the session closed.
In this climate, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with gains of 129 points or 0.39% and was formed at 33,826 points. The barometer index S&P 500 limited 0.28% to 4,079 points, while the technological Nasdaq, for its part, recorded losses of 0.58% to 11,787 points.
The energy sector was the biggest drag on the S&P 500, with shares of Albemarle and Devon Energy down 9.67% and 4.29%, respectively.
Today’s swings come in the wake of persistently high inflation, which is prompting the central bank to raise interest rates further. A development, which undoubtedly works burdensome for the shares.
Yesterday’s macroeconomic data (wholesale prices) confirmed what everyone feared, namely that the Federal Reserve will be called upon to intervene again in the coming months in order to curb high consumer prices.
