On Friday, the main indexes on Wall Street were on track for weekly losses, ending a tumultuous week where global markets were in turmoil due to fears of a recession in the world’s largest economy and the low-yielding yen appreciating sharply.
Growth and megacap stocks were mixed, with amazon .com up 0.6% and Alphabet down more than 1%.
U.S. stocks had jumped in the prior session after jobless claims last week dropped more than anticipated, easing fears of a prolonged slowdown in the U.S. that were fueled by July’s grim jobs data.
All major indexes were on track for weekly losses, with both the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 set for the fourth straight week of declines.
On Thursday, Fed policymakers said they were confident that inflation was easing enough to permit interest-rate cuts soon and would take their clues from the economic data on the timing and size of those cuts.
Investors will now focus on next week’s readings on July’s retail sales and consumer prices, which may provide new evidence on the chances of a soft landing for the U.S. economy.
The NASDAQ Composite lost 15.13 points, or 0.09%, to 16,644.89, the S&P 500 lost 6.27 points, or 0.12%, to 5,313.04 and the dow jones Industrial Average fell 133.28 points, or 0.34%, to 39,313.21.
