Stocks in the United States weakened today after several days of growth. They reacted to the publication of the report from the latest meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy committee, which gave no indication that the bank was going to cut interest rates. US retail stocks headed lower after disappointing earnings results and technology stocks also weakened. On the foreign exchange market, the dollar strengthened slightly after an initial decline.
A reduction?
The Dow Jones index, which includes the shares of thirty leading US companies, wrote off 0.18 per cent today to end trading at 35,088.29 points. The broader S&P 500 index fell 0.2 per cent to 4,538.19 points and the Nasdaq Composite index, which includes many companies in the high-tech sector, fell 0.59 per cent to 14,199.98 points.
Fed officials at a meeting in late October and early November expressed little willingness to cut interest rates anytime soon. This is especially so given that inflation remains well above their target. They remain concerned that inflation could either remain high or move even higher. They said that monetary policy will have to remain “restrictive” until the data shows that inflation is moving convincingly back towards the central bank’s 2 percent target.
Other news
Chipmaker Nvidia, which will report third-quarter results after the close of trading, came off an all-time high, losing 0.9 percent. Shares of U.S. retailer Best Buy fell after the electronics retailer said it expects a sharper drop in annual comparable sales. Kohl’s shares weakened after the company missed third-quarter sales estimates.
In the foreign exchange market, the dollar strengthened slightly after an initial decline. Shortly before 10 p.m. EDT, the dollar index, which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six major world currencies, added 0.1 percent to 103.57 points. The euro lost 0.2 percent to the dollar to $1.0915.
Source: ČTK
