Global Courant
Shares fell Wednesday as investors took a breather from last week’s market rally and weighed in on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s latest comments on inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 102.35 points, or 0.30%, lower to 33,951.52. The S&P 500 fell 0.52% to 4,365.69, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 1.21% to 13,502.20. It was the third consecutive day of losses across all three indices.
Some big technology stocks that had an extraordinary run because of the enthusiasm around artificial intelligence retreated. Amazon shares fell about 0.8% after the Federal Trade Commission sued the online retailer on Wednesday. The agency alleged that Amazon tricked millions of customers into signing up for Prime and then obstructed their attempts to cancel. Nvidia, which is up nearly 200% this year, fell 1.7%. Shares of Google parent Alphabet And Netflix were each down more than 2%.
Elsewhere, FedEx shares fell more than 2% in a day after the shipping giant posted weaker-than-expected earnings for its most recent quarter. Winnebago shares fell nearly 1.3% after the motorhome maker fell short of third-quarter revenue estimates.
Powell said Wednesday that more rate hikes are likely on the horizon as the central bank tries to fight inflation. Those comments come after the conclusion of last week’s meeting, when the central bank held back from raising rates after 10 consecutive hikes. Officials, however, indicated that two more quarter-percentage-point movements could lie ahead this year.
“Almost all FOMC participants expect it will be appropriate to raise interest rates a little further towards the end of the year.” Powell said in prepared remarks for the House Financial Services Committee.
Stocks are taking a break from the exuberance of the recent rally. Last week, the S&P 500 hit its highest level since April 2022, recording its fifth consecutive positive week.
“For the past few weeks, they’ve done nothing but go up, which has been a relief, and it looks like the Fed speakers this week are really going to focus on talking about, they’re going to continue to raise rates,” he said. founder of Bokeh Capital Partners, Kim Forrest.
“And I think this has especially given some of the higher-flying names that rely on growth a break, which is dragging the market down,” Forrest said.
– CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
