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But Price said “the general bias right now is for the market to continue to move higher, absent negative catalysts.”
“That’s really what the market is hanging its hat on right now, that inflation is going to continue to be benign, that the Fed is going to start to ease.”
Next week’s February data including consumer prices (CPI) and retail sales will offer more cues on the prospects for potential rate cuts.
On Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was “not far” from gaining the confidence inflation is falling sufficiently to begin cutting interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.66 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 38,722.69, the S&P 500 lost 33.67 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 5,123.69 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 188.26 points, or 1.16 per cent, to 16,085.11.
The biggest loser among the S&P 500’s 11 major sectors was technology, which ended down 1.8 per cent, followed by consumer staples, which fell 0.8 per cent, with a big drag from Costco.
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For the week the S&P 500 lost 0.26 per cent while Nasdaq fell 1.17 per cent and the Dow dropped 0.93 per cent.
“People may be taking some chips off the table. We’ve had a decent run. Some of the technology names had moved up quite a bit,” said Charlie Ripley, Senior Investment Strategist for Allianz Investment Management.
“When you’ve markets which have run up as much as this has since the start of the year, with returns coming in a strong as they have, these types of pullbacks are healthy to see.”
The biggest gainer was real estate, which closed up 1.1 per cent followed by energy, which added 0.4 per cent.
Also on the bright side, Gap shares finished up 8.2 per cent after the retailer beat Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter results, buoyed by strong demand on improved product offerings at its Old Navy and namesake brands during the holiday season, and lower markdowns.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.25-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 708 new highs and 48 new lows.
On the Nasdaq 2,086 stocks rose and 2,192 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by about a 1.05-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 65 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 351 new highs and 83 new lows.
On US exchanges 12.29 billion shares changed hands compared with the 12.08 billion average for the last 20 sessions.
Reuters
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