Stocks were hammered after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony today.
The new Fed Chair delivered his first semiannual testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee this morning. And stocks were higher in early trading as traders digested Powell’s prepared remarks.
In his prepared comments, Powell said that he expects gradual rate increases. And an hour into the session, the major indices were trading at highs of the day.
But stocks dropped after Powell said his “economic projections have increased” since December. The comments led to concerns over more hikes. According to Fed Funds Futures, the probability of a rate hike in March increased to 87.4% while the probability of a 4th rate hike this year (something traders weren’t expecting) jumped to 33.1%.
With today’s losses, the major indices erased yesterday’s gains.
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Here’s where the major indices ended the day:
- The S&P finished with a 1.3% loss. Down 35 points, the S&P ended at 2,744.
- The DOW ended 1.2% lower. Dropping 299 points, the DOW closed at 25,410.
- The NASDAQ was down 1.2% With a 91 point loss, the NASDAQ finished at 7,330.
- Bitcoin was up 3.3%. Adding $342, Bitcoin is trading at $10,744.
Crude Oil (CL) was extremely quiet today. The open outcry session ended with a 0.1% loss and close of $63.86. But Crude Oil continued to slide in the afternoon and is down another $1.
Looking at stocks, talks between Walgreens (WBA) and AmerisourceBergen (ABC) ended without a deal, with the latter closing down 2.9%.
Macy’s (M) beat earnings expectations this morning and was up as much as 13%. But pulled down by the rest of the market, Macy’s finished the day with a 3.5% gain. Sky PLC which trades out of London, was up 20% today after Comcast (CMCSA) made a bid for the company. This was a bit of a surprise to markets, as it tops 21st Century Fox (FOXA) bid for the company. Comcast fell 7.4% on the day.
Etsy (ETSY) is out with earnings after the close along with Weight Watchers (WTW) and Square (SQ). Celgene (CELG) is getting blasted after-hours after receiving a refusal to file letter from the FDA.
Looking at tomorrow’s economic calendar we have Preliminary GDP at 8:30am ET, Chicago PMI at 9:45am ET, Pending Home Sales at 10:00am ET and Crude Oil Inventories at 10:30am ET.
Source: RockwellTrading by Markus Heitkoetter | Original Link