Advertisment
Stocks slipped on Friday as investors tried to determine the next step for the Federal Reserve amid the highest inflation in decades.
The Dow Jones Industrials shed 10.4 points to 35,231.19.
The S&P 500 slipped 15.52 points to 4,488.56
The NASDAQ fell 99.11 points to 14,086.53.
Semiconductor stocks, which have been volatile in part due to supply chain issues caused by COVID, were underperformers on Friday. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices and Xilinx dipped more than 4%.
In earnings news, shares of Newell Brands jumped 8.8% after the company beat estimates on the top and bottom lines for the fourth quarter. Shares of Under Armour dropped 9.9% after the apparel company highlighted supply chain issues in its quarterly report.
Shares of Zillow rallied strongly, rising 11% the day after the real estate website operator posted a surprise profit of $1.07 against an expected loss of 42 cents per share. Travel stock Expedia rose 4% after the company beat earnings expectations and said that bookings were improving as the omicron variant wave fades.
Friday’s moves followed a sharp selloff in bonds and stocks in the previous session. Treasury yields spiked in reaction to data that showed consumer prices surged more than 7% last month, the highest gain since February 1982.
Goldman Sachs shifted its expectations for the Fed this year, calling for seven rate hikes in an effort to cool an economy that has generated inflation far more persistent than policymakers had anticipated.
On the economic front, the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment reading for February came in at 61.7, falling from 67.2 the previous month and missing expectations.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys dawdled, raising yields back to Thursday’s 2.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.64 to $91.52 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices eked up 60 cents to $1,839.00 U.S. an ounce.
