US stocks drop as Fed officials reinforce Powell's hawkish tone

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting on December 14, 2022 in Washington, DC. The Federal Reserve announced that it will raise interest rates by a 0.5 percentage point to 4.5.Alex Wong/Getty Images

• US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, extending losses from the previous session.

• Investors were focused on hawkish rhetoric from Fed chair Jerome Powell and other officials.

• Powell cautioned that rates could extend higher than previously thought at a speech on Tuesday.

US stocks extended losses to close lower on Wednesday, as investors assessed the path of interest rates after more hawkish comments from officials.

Yesterday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said he foresaw benchmark interest rates climbing higher than previously thought in his first remarks since the scorching jobs report on Friday. While Mr. Powell added that he believed that disinflation may already be underway, the strength of the labor market is at odds with a market that desperately wants the central bank to ease up.

Those comments were followed by Fed governor Christopher Waller, who on Wednesday echoed similar sentiments, stating that monetary policy would need to stay tight for a few years to properly reign in inflation down to the Fed's target.

New York Fed President John Williams joined the chorus, noting at an event on Wednesday hosted by The Wall Street Journal that the Fed's policy outlook was accurate and that the central bank had more work to do.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:30 p.m. closing bell on Wednesday: 

• S&P 500: 4,118.62, down 1.09%

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,949.20, down 0.61% (207.49 points)

• Nasdaq Composite: 11,910.52, down 1.68%

Here's what else is going on: 

• Microsoft's recent stock surge sent the company back to a $2 trillion market capitalization.

• Shares of Google-parent Alphabet slid as much as 9% after reports of incorrect information in an ad for its Bard AI chatbot.

• Fundstrat predicts tech stocks are in for a resurgent year after a turbulent 2022.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto: 

• Oil prices climbed, with West Texas Intermediate adding 1.70% to $78.44 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 1.79% to $85.16 a barrel.

• Gold ticked up 0.19% to $1,877.40 per ounce.

• The 10-year yield slipped 2.3 basis points to 3.651%.

• Bitcoin declined 0.38% to $22,855.20.

 

 

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