Traders work the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during morning trading on February 10, 2023 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures were flat on Sunday night after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended their worst week in nearly two months.
S&P 500 futures fell by about 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 27 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq-100 futures slid 0.2%.
All three major indexes ended the week on a downturn. The Dow ended the week down 0.17%. The S&P 500 fell 1.11%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 2.41%, marking their biggest weekly losses since December.
These losses came after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that there is still a long way to go in the fight against inflation. Powell also noted that interest rates could rise more than markets anticipate if inflation numbers do not abate, reversing some of the prior market optimism that rate hikes would soon ease.
“The risk, however, is that premature easing in financial conditions, and in turn, a pick up in growth expectations, may be counterproductive from an inflation fighting point of view. Indeed, post the hot January payrolls report, a number of Fed speakers this week have talked up rates expectations, pushing back on Powell’s dovish talk.” Barclays analyst Emmanuel Cau wrote in a Friday note. “As a result, the disconnect between the Fed’s own rates forecasts and market pricing has noticeably narrowed, which has hurt US equities.”
Investors are watching out for the consumer price index numbers on Tuesday for insight into the pace of inflation, as well as retail sales data.
The final leg of earnings season also continues next week, with Coca-Cola, Marriott, Cisco, Marathon and Paramount set to report.
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