ASX retreats as iron ore prices fall; DigiCo drops again
Major stock indexes on Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish, capping a rare bumpy week for the market.
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The S&P 500 ended essentially flat, down less than 0.1 per cent, after wavering between tiny gains and losses most of the day. The benchmark index posted a loss for the week, its first after three straight weekly gains.
The Dow Jones slipped 0.2 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1 per cent, ending just below the record high it set on Wednesday.
There were more than twice as many decliners than gainers on the New York Stock Exchange.
Gains in technology stocks helped temper losses in communication services, financials and other sectors of the market.
Some tech stocks were a drag on the market. Nvidia fell 2.2 per cent, Meta Platforms dropped 1.7 per cent and Google parent Alphabet slid 1.1 per cent.
Among the market’s other decliners were Airbnb, which fell 4.7 per cent for the biggest loss in the S&P 500, and Charles Schwab, which closed 4 per cent lower.
Wall Street’s rally stalled this week amid mixed economic reports and ahead of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting of the year. The central bank will meet next week and is widely expected to cut interest rates for a third time since September.
Expectations of a series of rate cuts has driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year.
The Fed has been lowering its benchmark interest rate following an aggressive rate hiking policy that was meant to tame inflation. It raised rates from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023. Inflation eased under pressure from higher interest rates, nearly to the central bank’s 2 per cent target.
The economy, including consumer spending and employment, held strong despite the squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. A slowing job market, though, has helped push a long-awaited reversal of the Fed’s policy.
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Inflation rates have been warming up slightly over the last few months. A report on consumer prices this week showed an increase to 2.7 per cent in November from 2.6 per cent in October. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index, will be released next week. Wall Street expects it to show a 2.5 per cent rise in November, up from 2.3 per cent in October.
With AP
