US stocks closed slightly lower after an early push from Powell; Oil falls

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major U.S. stock indexes closed slightly lower on Wednesday, losing early gains linked to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments that the U.S. central bank is “strongly committed” to lowering inflation, while a sharp drop in oil prices weighed on energy stocks.

Standard & Poor’s Energy Sector 500 (.SPNY) It was 4.2%.

The dollar fell along with US Treasury yields on fears that the US economy could slip into recession after Powell, in testimony before the US Senate Banking Committee, said high rates are painful but the means by which the US central bank has to slow inflation . Read more

“Like all of the Fed’s comments, there are pros and cons, but the overall message is that the Fed is not holding back from raising rates,” said Tim Greske, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

The Federal Reserve recently raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point — its biggest hike since 1994. Read more

Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 47.12 points, or 0.15 percent, to 30,483.13 points (.SPX) It lost 4.9 points, equivalent to 0.13%, to 3759.89 points, and the Nasdaq Composite Index (nineteenth) It fell 16.22 points, or 0.15%, to 11,053.08 points.

Pan-European STOXX 600 Index (.stoxx) Lost 0.70% as the MSCI gauge of stocks worldwide (.MIWD00000PUS) fall 0.49%.

Investors continue to assess how worried they are about the possibility of central banks driving the global economy into recession as they try to curb inflation by raising interest rates.

The Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting minutes released on Wednesday that were released on Wednesday showed the central bank’s concerns about the impact of a depreciating currency on the business environment in the country. Read more

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.27% against the dollar at 136.24 per dollar.

In Treasuries, benchmark 10-year notes rose to 3.156% from 3.305% late Tuesday.

US crude fell $3.33 to close at $106.19 a barrel, while Brent crude fell $2.91 to settle at $111.74. Read more

US President Joe Biden has called on Congress to pass a three-month suspension of the federal gasoline tax to help combat record pump prices. Read more

And the spot gold price rose 0.3 percent to $ 1838.03 an ounce.

(Carolyn Valitkevich reports). Additional reporting by Mark Jones in London, Sam Byford in Tokyo, Shadia Nasrallah in Bengaluru, and Stephen Kolb in New York. Editing by William MacLean, Will Dunham and Dibba Babington

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