Stock Market Today: Dow ends lower after Powell signals rate hikes remain in play
Investing.com -- The Dow closed lower Thursday, as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell dealt a blow to bets on sooner rather later rate cuts after signaling that the Fed isn't ready to close the curtain on rate hikes.
At 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 220 points or 0.7%. The S&P 500 was down 0.8% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.9%, with both indexes snapping their eight-and nine-day win streak, respectively.
The Federal Open Market Committee are «not confident» that it has tightened policy to sufficiently restrictive stance needed to bring inflation back to Fed's 2% target, Powell said on Thursday.
While Powell balanced his remarks by reiterating that the central bank would progress carefully on future monetary policy decision, the Fed chief also said «if it becomes appropriate to tighten policy further, we will not hesitate to do so,» scuppering recent optimism that the Fed hiking cycle was over.
The remarks forced traders cool their bets on sooner rate cuts, with the first cut now expected in June rather than May next year.
Treasury yields held onto gains, with the yield on the 2-year Treasury rising about 12 basis points to 4.64%.
The yield on the United States 30-Year, meanwhile, jumped 12 basis points after the $24 billon 30-year treasury auction attracted less demand than expected. The auction yields of 4.769% was 5.3 basis points higher than the pre-sale level of 4.716%, pointing to signs of weak demand.
Becton Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) fell more than 9% to weigh on the broader health care sector after the medical technology weaker annual guidance offseting better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
The company forecast EPS for 2024 of between $12.70 to $13 a
Read more on investing.com
