U.S. stocks close mixed ahead of holiday weekend
Jun 18, 2022
New York [US], June 18: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday as investors repositioned themselves ahead of a long holiday weekend.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 38.29 points, or 0.13 percent, to 29,888.78. The S&P 500 was up 8.07 points, or 0.22 percent, to 3,674.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 152.25 points, or 1.43 percent, to 10,798.35.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended higher, led by communication service and consumer discretionary, up 1.31 percent and 1.22 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and utilities led the laggards, down 5.57 percent and 0.95 percent, respectively.
Investors continue to digest developments on macroeconomics and the outlook of an economic recession.
At a conference on Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said his colleagues and himself were acutely focused on returning inflation to the 2 percent objective.
The U.S. industrial production index in May expanded 0.2 percent month on month, lower than the 0.4 percent of consensus expectation and the 1.4 percent growth in the previous month, according to data issued by the Fed on Friday.
The index of U.S. leading economic indicators in May shrank 0.4 percent from the previous month, in line with consensus expectation and month-on-month change in the previous month, according to the latest data issued by the Conference Board.
The most likely outlook of the U.S. economy is very weak growth and persistently high inflation, and the U.S. economy has roughly a 40 percent chance of a recession next year, said Ethan Harris, head of global economics at Bank of America Global Research on Friday.
"We look for GDP growth to slow to almost zero, inflation to settle at around 3 percent and the Fed to hike rates above 4 percent," Harris said.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points and the target range for the federal funds rate reached 1.5 to 1.75 percent.
The U.S. stock market will be closed next Monday for the Juneteenth National Independence Day.
Source: Xinhua
