US Stock Log | The three indexes fell and gold prices hit a new high
U.S. stock indexes declined Friday amid cautious remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell regarding future interest rate cuts, while gold prices surged to a record high. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.8%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.5%, and the Dow Jones industrial Average decreased 1.0%.
Recent market gains have been fueled by expectations of easing monetary policy, but Powell’s statement emphasized a need for a “quite cautious” approach to rate reductions, citing risks of rising inflation and slowing employment. This shift in tone contributed to declines in major tech stocks; Nvidia rose nearly 4% last day but fell by about 2.8% today,Amazon fell 3%,and Oracle dropped 4.3%. Conversely, online real estate agency Opendoor experienced a sharp 15% decline following major shareholder sales and criticism of its business model, while Better Home & Finance rose more than 30%.
Powell stated, “Inflation risks tend to rise and employment risks tend to slow down in the short term, which is a challenging situation. Two-way risk means there is no risk-free path.” He also acknowledged high stock valuations, noting, “for multiple indicators, such as stock prices, the valuation is really high.”
Despite these concerns, Powell indicated that the current environment “is not the time when financial stability risks heat up.” He also commented on market expectations, saying, “The market will listen to us and follow us, and then estimate the direction of interest rates, which will be reflected in the price in advance.”
