New York (AFP) – Wall Street stocks retreated following a choppy session Wednesday as Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh emphasized the need to tame inflation ahead of closely-watched US jobs data. Appearing on a panel with other leading central bankers, Warsh emphasized he was committed to returning inflation to the Fed’s two percent target. “We’re going to deliver price stability in the US,” Warsh said. “That’s what this committee has signed up to do.” Warsh delivered a similar message at a press conference last month following his first Fed meeting as chairman.
The comments came ahead of Thursday’s release of monthly US jobs data for June. Analysts expect the US economy added 110,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3 percent. Payroll firm ADP estimated the private sector added 98,000 jobs last month, according to data released Wednesday. In the first session of the third quarter, US equities showed signs of fatigue after a blowout second quarter. All three major indices finished lower, led by the Nasdaq, which fell 0.7 percent. The tech-focused index outperformed the Dow and S&P 500 in the second quarter.
Semiconductor shares were among those selling off on Wednesday. “There’s a bit of a rotation going on in the tech sector, and I don’t think it’s terribly concerning,” said Tom Cahill of Ventura Wealth Management. Cahill described Warsh’s commentary as balanced, with bullish commentary about artificial intelligence countering the cautious take on inflation. Some market watchers have said a robust jobs report could hasten Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. But Cahill said of the jobs report, “it would take a very strong number, extremely strong number, for the market to be bothered by it.”
European stocks ended the day mostly lower. Asian stock markets made some gains after Wall Street’s strong performance on Tuesday. Elsewhere, oil prices dropped as markets greeted indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Qatar. The two sides have exchanged fire in recent days despite a memorandum of understanding to halt the Middle East war. Iran had insisted there would be no direct negotiations in Doha on the deal to end the war. The Qatar discussions, focused on the details of the MoU, were to “build on the progress made at the Lake Lucerne Summit,” a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Among individual companies, Facebook parent Meta jumped 8.8 percent after a report said the social media giant is preparing to launch a cloud computing business that would sell AI computing power to outside customers. The report, published by Bloomberg, said Meta is developing plans to compete directly with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud by monetizing the excess computing capacity it has built up while racing to develop artificial intelligence.
– Key figures around 2020 GMT –
New York – Dow: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 52,305.24 (close)
New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 7,483.23 (close)
New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.7 percent at 26,040.03 (close)
London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,478.34 (close)
Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,337.29 (close)
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 25,040.28 (close)
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 70,474.96 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.4 percent at 4,112.45 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 162.52 yen from 162.55 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1380 from $1.1422
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3282 from $1.3262
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.68 pence from 86.13 pence
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.9 percent at $71.57 a barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.3 percent at $68.58 a barrel
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© 2024 AFP
