Wall St edges lower as volatile week draws to a close

Wall Street’s main indexes were set to clock weekly losses on Friday, capping off a tumultuous week where global markets were rattled by a sharp appreciation in the low-yielding yen and fears of a recession in the world’s biggest economy.

Megacap and growth stocks were mixed, with Alphabet down over 1% and Amazon.com was up 0.6%.

In the previous session, U.S. stocks had jumped after jobless claims last week fell more than expected, easing worries of a prolonged slowdown in the United States that were spurred after July’s dour jobs data.

The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, stood at 24.07 points, far below the 65.73 at the start of the week, which witnessed a global stocks rout triggered by a surge in yen as a surprise rate hike by the Bank of Japan resulted in unwinding of currency carry trades.

But all major indexes were set for weekly losses, with both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq headed for a fourth straight week of fall.

“In general, we’re still in this environment where the economy is slowing if not grinding to a halt, inflation is coming down, which is not suggestive at all of recession. We’re still growing, just not as much,” said Christopher Jackson, senior vice president at UBS Wealth Management.

Wall Street jumps as jobs data eases slowdown fears

Fed policymakers said on Thursday they were confident that inflation was cooling enough to allow interest-rate cuts ahead, and will take their cues on the size and timing of those cuts from the economic data.

Money markets are now evenly split between the Fed cutting rates by 50-basis points and 25-basis points in September, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.

Investors are now focusing on next week’s readings on the consumer prices and retail sales for July, which could provide fresh evidence on chances of a soft landing for the American economy.

At 09:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 133.28 points, or 0.34%, to 39,313.21, the S&P 500 lost 6.27 points, or 0.12%, to 5,313.04 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 15.13 points, or 0.09%, to 16,644.89

Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were trading lower, with utilities and communication services leading the losses.