Wall Street’s main indexes edged higher in volatile trading on Friday as investors assessed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech where he acknowledged cooling inflation but left the door open to further monetary policy tightening.
The Fed may need to raise interest rates further to ensure inflation is contained, Powell said at the Jackson Hole conference, which was also attended by other top global central bankers.
While inflation has come down from its peak, Powell said, it still remains high and policymakers would “proceed carefully” in deciding further interest rate moves.
“He gave some hope to the dovish side by acknowledging that current policy is restrictive and it may work further over time,” said David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation.
“But he also threatened to drop the hammer again if the economy and job market run too hot. This will keep traders on edge as more data trickles out.”
U.S. Treasury yields rose after the comments, with the yield on the two-year note, which best reflects short-term rate expectations, hitting its highest level since early July.
While 80.5% traders are expecting a pause in tightening by the Fed in the September meeting, expectations of a rate hike in November have risen from a day earlier, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Investors had keenly awaited Powell’s speech after a spate of strong economic data, including a fall in last week’s jobless claims, dampened hopes that the Fed could be close to the end of its rate-hike cycle.
Still, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was on track to gain 0.9% this week, largely due a rally in megacap growth stocks in the run up to Nvidia’s second-quarter results, which were reported on Wednesday.
The index was also set to snap three straight weeks of losses.
At 11:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 138.89 points, or 0.41%, at 34,238.31, the S&P 500 was up 9.67 points, or 0.22%, at 4,385.98, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 7.31 points, or 0.05%, at 13,471.28.
Shares of Marvell Technology fell 7.6% after the chipmaker posted a fall in second-quarter revenue, hit by a weak enterprise market.
Clothing firm Gap rose 4.4% after the company beat second-quarter profit estimates, while Nordstrom dropped 10.9% after the department store chain left its forecasts unchanged.
Hawaiian Electric dropped 17.4% after the county of Maui sued the power company and S&P downgraded its credit rating amid scrutiny over its role in the Maui wildfires.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the NYSE while declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 12 new highs and 149 new low.
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