US markets end lower on Friday

25 Feb 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Friday following the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing an unexpected acceleration in the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices in the month of January. The report said annual growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, accelerated to 4.7 percent in January from an upwardly revised 4.6 percent in December. Street had expected the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices to slow to 4.3 percent from the 4.4 percent originally reported for the previous month. Including food and energy prices, consumer price growth also accelerated to 5.4 percent in January from 5.3 percent in December. The rate of growth was expected to slow to 4.9 percent.

The unexpected acceleration in core consumer price growth added to recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates. On the sectoral front, networking stocks turned in some of the worst performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index plunging by 2.5 percent to its lowest closing level in a month. Substantial weakness was also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent slump by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. Steel stocks also saw considerable weakness amid concerns about the outlook for demand, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 1.9 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 336.99 points or 1.02 percent to 32,816.92, Nasdaq dropped 195.46 points or 1.69 percent to 11,394.94 and S&P 500 was down by 42.28 points or 1.05 percent to 3,970.04.

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