US markets end mostly lower on Friday

18 Feb 2023 Evaluate

The US markets trimmed their initial losses with Nasdaq and S&P 500 settling lower but Dow reached positive territory on Friday. Initial weakness came amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the week's batch of economic data. Reports on consumer and producer price inflation and retail sales have led to worries the Federal Reserve could raise rates higher than currently anticipated. Recent comments from Fed officials have added to the concerns, with some suggesting the central bank could raise rates by another 50 basis points next month.

However, selling pressure has waned over the course of the session, with a report showing a continued decrease in U.S. import prices potentially helping to offset the negative sentiment. The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.2 percent in January after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in December. The modest decrease matched street estimates. With import prices declining for the seventh straight month, the annual rate of growth slowed to 0.8 percent in January from 3.0 percent in December. The year-over-year growth was much slower than the 2.9 percent expected by market participants and reflects the slowest annual growth since December 2020. The recovery attempt also came as treasury yields showed a notable turnaround, with the benchmark ten-year yield pulling back off its highest levels in well over a month.

Nasdaq dropped 68.56 points or 0.58 percent to 11,787.27 and S&P 500 was down by 11.32 points or 0.28 percent to 4,079.09, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 129.84 points or 0.39 percent to 33,826.69.

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