NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks opened lower on Wall Street on Thursday, giving up some of the big gains they made the day before. Tech companies led the declines. The S&P 500 lost 1.1% early, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.7%. The S&P 500 posted its biggest gain in two years a day earlier, relieved that the Federal Reserve was not considering even bigger interest rate hikes than it already was. Twitter rose after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had gained more support for his takeover bid for the company. Etsy fell sharply after giving a weak forecast.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is poised to return some of yesterday’s gains when markets open Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by half a percentage point as it is trying to reduce the worst inflation in 40 years.
Dow Jones Industrials futures lost 0.5% and the S&P 500 slipped 0.6%. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained 3% for its biggest one-day rise in two years, while the Dow Jones jumped 2.8% and the Nasdaq composite 3.2%.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday downplayed the likelihood of larger interest rate hikes after the biggest U.S. central bank increase in two decades, giving a boost to anxious markets after the fall in ‘april.
“The Fed continues to try to orchestrate a soft landing while tackling high levels of inflation,” Invesco’s David Chao said in a report.
The Fed raised its key rate to a range of 0.75% to 1%, the highest point since the coronavirus pandemic hit two years ago. The increase, double its usual rate hike, follows the central bank’s quarter-point hike in March.
Powell’s comments appeared to be aimed at allaying fears that the Fed, accused of reacting too slowly to soaring inflation last year, could be heading for an unusually large three-quarters point rate hike. percentage at its June meeting.
Investors are worried about whether the Fed can extinguish inflation without plunging the economy into a slowdown.
The Fed announced details on how it will begin to reduce its holdings of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities. The central bank bought bonds to inject money into the financial system and drive down long-term interest rates.
London and Frankfurt opened higher on their first trading day since Powell’s comments. Shanghai and Sydney advanced while Hong Kong finished lower. Markets in Japan and South Korea were closed for the holidays.
Also on Thursday, the Bank of England raised its key interest rate to the highest level in 13 years, its fourth rate hike since December as UK inflation hit 30-year highs. Its monetary policy committee voted 6 to 3 to raise the rate the Bank of England pays other banks by a quarter of a percentage point, to 1%.
By midday, the FTSE 100 in London jumped 1.6%, the DAX in Frankfurt jumped 1.6% and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 1.9%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7% to 3,067.76 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4% to 20,793.40 after spending most of the day in territory. positive.
Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 rose 0.8% to 7,364.70 and India’s Sensex gained 0.3% to 55,854.82. New Zealand won while Singapore and Bangkok fell.
In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 53 cents to $108.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract jumped $5.40 to $107.81 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the price base for international oils, advanced 81 cents to $110.95 a barrel in London. It jumped from $5.17 the previous session to $110.14.
Twitter rose more than 2% in premarket trading after billionaire Elon Musk boosted equity stake in his bid to buy the social media platform. Musk has secured commitments of more than $7 billion from various investors, including Oracle co-founder and Tesla board member Larry Ellison. Musk was originally slated to receive $12.5 billion in margin loans to help fund the deal, but he is now cutting that amount in half, to $6.25 billion.
Etsy fell more than 12% in after-hours retail after the online crafts and accessories marketplace downgraded its second-quarter outlook.
The dollar climbed to 129.97 Japanese yen from 128.87 yen on Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.0552 from $1.0613.