The S&P 500 fell on Friday and notched its second-straight weekly loss, with technology stocks under pressure as inflation concerns remain front and centre ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.
The broad market index lost 0.65% to close at 5,117.09. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 190.89 points, or 0.49%, to finish the session at 38,714.77, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.96% to 15,973.17.
The S&P 500 shed 0.13% this week. The 30-stock Dow inched lower by 0.02% on the week, and the Nasdaq slipped 0.7%.
Tech shares were broadly lower, with Amazon and Microsoft down more than 2% each. Shares of Apple and Google-parent Alphabet also fell. Chip giant Nvidia has whipsawed this week as traders worry about the stock’s valuation and book profits in the high-flying name; it ended the day slightly lower but was up about 0.4% for the week.
Investors remain hyper vigilant after a slew of data from earlier in the week. February’s producer price index, a gauge of wholesaler inflation, advanced more than economists anticipated. The data has helped push the benchmark 10-year Treasury higher by about 22 basis points this week, as investors wondered if the recent economic data was too strong for the Federal Reserve to loosen monetary policy. The Fed will begin its two-day policy meeting on March 19.
To be sure, fed funds futures are pricing in a 99% likelihood of the central bank keeping interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting next week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
Crude oil prices experienced a slight decline on Friday, yet recorded a weekly gain fueled by market expectations of tightening supply. The West Texas Intermediate contract for April settled at $81.04 a barrel, while the Brent contract for May settled at $85.34 a barrel, with both showing a cumulative increase of over 3.5% for the week.
Futures
The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent fall.
Currency
One Australian dollar at 7.40am was buying 65.61 US cents.
Figures around the globe
European markets closed mixed. London’s FTSE fell 0.20 per cent, Frankfurt lost 0.03 per cent, and Paris closed 0.04 per cent higher.
Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.26 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.42 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite added 0.54 per cent..
On Friday, the Australian share market closed 0.56 per cent lower at 7,670.28.
Ex-dividends
Chorus Limited (ASX:CNU) is paying 15.1971 cents unfranked
HUB24 Ltd (ASX:HUB) is paying 18.5 cents fully franked
L1 Long Short Fund (ASX:LSF) is paying 5.75 cents fully franked
Prime Financial (ASX:PFG) is paying 0.75 cents fully franked
Saunders Intl Ltd (ASX:SND) is paying 2 cents fully franked
Dividends payable
Centrepoint Alliance Ltd (ASX:CAF)
Contact Energy Ltd (ASX:CEN)
Mitchell Services Ltd (ASX:MSV)
Stanmore Resources Ltd (ASX:SMR)
Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.
