US markets end lower on Wednesday

22 Jun 2023 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower for third straight day on Wednesday with Nasdaq settling over cut of one percent. Renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the weakness on markets following remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Powell reiterated the Fed is likely to continue raising interest rates in an effort to contain stubbornly elevated inflation. The Fed left rates unchanged last week, but the central bank's latest projections suggest it plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6 percent by the end of 2023. If the Fed decided to revert to its recent quarter-point increases, the forecast suggests the central bank will raise rates two more times this year.

The forecast for additional rate hikes come as Powell noted inflation pressures continue to run high and said the process of getting inflation back to the Fed's 2 percent target has a long way to go. On the sectoral front, Semiconductor stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, resulting in a 2.7 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index continued to give back ground after ending last Wednesday's trading at its highest closing level in over year. Networking, software and computer hardware stocks also showed significant moves to the downside, contributing to the steep drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 102.35 points or 0.3 percent to 33,951.52, Nasdaq lost 165.1 points or 1.21 percent to 13,502.2 and S&P 500 was down by 23.02 points or 0.52 percent to 4,365.69. 


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