THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
The S&P 500 was down 1% in late trading and on track for its third straight losing week. That would be its longest such streak since September, before it broke into a romp that sent it to a string of records this year.
The Nasdaq composite was down 2.2%, as of
The stock market's worst performers included several stocks that until recently had been its biggest stars.
Nvidia, another stock that has been surging due to
Tech stocks in the S&P 500 have broadly lost 7% this week as a dawning, dispiriting acknowledgement sweeps
Top Fed officials said this week that they could hold interest rates at their high level for a while. That’s a letdown for traders after the Fed had signaled earlier that three cuts to interest rates could be possible this year. High rates hurt prices for investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive and making investors wait the longest for big growth, and raise the risk of a recession.
Lower rates had earlier appeared to be on the horizon after inflation cooled sharply last year. But a string of reports this year showing inflation has remained hotter than expected has raised worries about stalled progress.
Fed officials are adamant that they want to see additional proof inflation is heading down toward their 2% target before lowering the Fed’s main interest rate, which is at its highest level since 2001.
Traders are now largely forecasting just one or two cuts to rates this year, according to data from CME Group, down from expectations for six or more at the start of the year. A growing number are expecting zero cuts this year.
But
“The giant sucking sound of optimism (escaping) from the market is due to the Fed’s lack of foresight and irrational focus on where inflation has been instead of where it’s going,” he said.
Because interest rates look unlikely to offer much help in the near term, companies are under even more pressure to deliver growth in profits, the other lever that helps set stock prices
Netflix sank 9% despite reporting stronger profits for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts called it a mostly solid performance, but the streaming giant disappointed some investors by saying it will stop giving updates on its subscriber numbers every three months, beginning next year.
Helping to limit the market’s losses was American Express, which rose 5.4%. It reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In the oil market, a barrel of Brent crude pulled back to
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year
In markets abroad, stock indexes were mixed in
Japan’s
___
AP Writers
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
, source