Technological pressures on Wall, ‘brake’ and from Dow

Wall Street’s main indices are moving lower at the end of the week, with the technology sector under pressure from the rise in US bonds and investment mood “braking” due to the monthly expiration of stock and index options worth 2 trillion dollars.

The minutes from the last meeting of the US central bank released on Wednesday did little to boost investor sentiment while macroeconomic data released this week presented a transitory and contradictory state of affairs in the US economy.

At the same time, investors are weighing the latest comments from Federal Reserve officials. The president of the St. Louis Fed branch, James Bullard, indicated his preference for a 75 basis point hike in the key rate. The US central banker estimated that it would take about 18 months for upward pressure on prices to recede near the Fed’s target of inflation near 2%.

He also called market expectations that the Fed would reverse course and return to a path of monetary easing “extremely premature,” while he called exaggerated fears of a recessionary effect on the economy due to escalating monetary tightening.

For her part, the head of the Kansas Fed, Esther Georgestated that the pace of interest rate increases remains up for discussion.

“It is clear that the Fed’s primary goal is to reduce inflation, even as it recognizes the risk of derailing the economy,” said Richard Hunter, analyst at Interactive Investor.

“The market is still betting on a modest 0.5% rate hike in September, although concerns are growing that there could be another 0.75% hike, with rates expected to move to 3 .5% in early 2023. Fed officials’ comments suggest there is still some way to go before taming inflation is achieved,” Hunter said in a note.

Meanwhile, the government bond yields US yields edged higher on Friday, with the 10-year adding 5 basis points to 2.913% and the 2-year climbing 3 basis points to 3.238%. The dollar is up 0.4% today

Indicators – Statistics

The industrialist is on the board Dow loses about 250 points or 0.75% and is around 33,750, the broadest S&P 500 declines by 1% to 4,240 units and the technologically weighted Nasdaq slipping by 1.7% to 12,750 units.

From the 30th shares that make up the industrial index, 6 move with a positive sign and 24 with a negative sign. The gains are led by the stock of Merck with an increase of just over 1%, while at the bottom are Boeing with losses of around 2.5% and Walt Disney and Salesforce that lose more than 2%.

Bed, Bath & Beyond shares tumble more than 40%, in the wake of billionaire investor Ryan Cohen’s announcement that he has sold his stake in the company, netting more than $55 million in profits.

This week’s economic data showed US retail sales were flat, while some major retailers posted disappointing results. Among them, Target TGT is down 1.5% today, while Kohl’s is down 5%.

Deree’s stock loses 1.75%, since announced an increase in profits for the third quarter of the yearhowever the farm and construction equipment company missed analysts’ estimates.