“Wall Street” records a sharp decline … and European markets are at the lowest level in a month
The current week is the third consecutive week of losses for the “Standard & Poor’s 500” and “Nasdaq”, while the Dow Jones recorded its fourth consecutive weekly decline.
Wall Street ended its trading on Friday evening sharply lower, ending a volatile week that witnessed surprising results for companies and increasing certainty about sharp increases in interest rates in the near term, which also pushed it to decline this week.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a 50 basis point rate increase would be on the table when the bank meets on May 3-4, while the European Central Bank is likely to raise rates before the end of the year, Bank President Christine Lagarde told CNN. NBC on Friday.
Traders ramped up their bets that the European Central Bank will raise the interest rate – currently at 0.50 percent – by about 85 basis points by the end of the year, up from about 70 basis points Thursday, and this was the third consecutive week of losses for both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq The Dow Jones recorded its fourth consecutive weekly decline.
The three indices traded down more than 2 percent for most of Friday afternoon.
According to data, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 121.68 points, or 2.77 percent, to 4,271.84 points, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 335.09 points, or 2.54 percent, to 12839.56 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 973.22 points, or 2.80 percent, to 33819.54 points.
European shares also closed on Friday near their lowest levels in a month, after a slew of negative factors ranging from Chinese shutdowns to combat the Covid outbreak to concerns about rapid interest rate increases slowed global sentiment.
The European Stoxx 600 index fell 1.8 percent to 453.43 points, its lowest closing level since March 25, and the basic resources sector index, which includes global mining companies, such as Glencore and Rio Tinto, fell 3.6 percent, as metal prices were hit by closures. In China, the largest consumer of metals.
The focus was also on the second round of the presidential election in France on Sunday, where President Emmanuel Macron may have extended his lead over his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, and the French CAC 40 index closed lower, affected by a broad sell-off, but rose on a weekly basis on the back of Expectations that Macron will win a new term.
gold dip
And gold fell 1 percent yesterday, on its way to recording the largest weekly decline since mid-March, as indicators led to a rapid increase in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve, which led to higher yields on Treasury bonds and the dollar.
And the price of gold in spot transactions fell 0.9 percent to $ 1934.06 an ounce, after touching its lowest level in two weeks, and prices fell 2.1 percent during the week so far, and US gold futures fell 0.7 percent when settling to $ 1934.3 an ounce.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a half-point rate increase would “be on the table” when the central bank meets in May.
And US Treasury bond yields for 10 years extended their gains, on the back of hawkish statements by the Federal Reserve in its efforts to control the high inflation rate.
Although gold is considered one of the safe havens during high inflation rates, raising interest rates to curb price increases increases the opportunity cost of holders of the precious metal that does not generate interest.
As for other precious metals, silver in spot transactions fell 1.6 percent to $ 24.24 an ounce, heading for its largest weekly decline since late January, down about 5.6 percent so far, and platinum fell 3.9 percent to $ 930.04 an ounce, and palladium fell 1.7 percent. percent to $2381.03.