U.S. stocks zigzagged between small gains and losses Wednesday as investors pored over minutes from the Federal Reserve’s last meeting earlier this month.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) teetered up 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) turned negative. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was a modest 0.3% higher.
“Participants concurred that the Federal Open Market Committee had made significant progress over the past year in moving toward a sufficiently restrictive stance of monetary policy,” the minutes said.
“Even so, participants agreed that, while there were signs that the cumulative effect of the Committee’s tightening of the stance of monetary policy had begun to moderate inflationary pressures, inflation remained well above the Committee’s longer-run goal of 2% and the labor market remained very tight.”
Discussions also reflected that most members favored the smaller 0.25% increase delivered during the latest policy decision but some in the group preferred raising rates by 50 basis points.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester admitted in a speech last week she would have favored the more sizable hike but officials did not want to surprise the markets, which were pricing in 0.25%.
“The worst of inflation may be in the rear view but it remains well-above the Fed’s target,” Mike Loewengart, head of model portfolio construction at Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Office said in a note. “Bottom line is that many market headwinds aren’t going away and investors should expect volatility to stay as they parse over the impact rates being higher for longer will have.”
Earlier in the day, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard in a televised interview with CNBC said the U.S. central bank must bring the federal funds rate to a range of 5.25% to 5.5% in order to bring inflation back down to its 2% target.
Wall Street banks have recently revised their expectations for upcoming rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Teams at Goldman Sachs and Bank of America said last week they estimate three more rate increases this year. Ahead of February’s interest rate increase, some market participants had seen that move potentially marking the end of the Fed’s rate hiking cycle.
Traders work on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Coinbase (COIN) was among movers on Wednesday, falling 5% even after the cryptocurrency exchange reported fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates and losses for the full year that were narrower than feared.
Chinese search engine Baidu (BIDU) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter results, boosted by strength in its cloud, advertising and artificial intelligence segments. Shares were down 3% in the afternoon after reversing gains from earlier in the session.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were steady early into the day after rising sharply Tuesday to the highest levels since November.
The moves follow a steep sell-off Tuesday that saw the S&P 500 nosedive 2% below 4,000, the Dow wipe out 700 points and the Nasdaq plunge 2.5% — the moves coming as investors adjust their expectations to higher interest rates for longer.
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Suncor Energy has been fined $90,000 after pleading guilty to two charges stemming from a worker injury in 2019 aboard its production vessel in an oilfield off the coast of Newfoundland.
In a news release Thursday, the province’s offshore oil regular said the company must also give $20,000 to the College of the North Atlantic’s health and safety management program.
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board says Calgary-based Suncor pleaded guilty on Sept. 5 for failing to ensure the safety of its employees and failing to ensure its employees wore a safety harness attached to a lifeline while inside a confined space.
The board says a worker fell 7.6 metres from a safety ladder while testing for hydrogen sulfide in a ballast tank on the floating production and storage vessel in the Terra Nova offshore oilfield.
An agreed statement of facts says two emergency response workers then went into the tank to tend to the fallen man, and they were not wearing gas masks.
Suncor Energy is the majority owner of the Terra Nova oilfield, and it reported net earnings of $1.57 billion in the second quarter of this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
Toronto-Dominion Bank has named new co-heads of its U.S. commercial banking business.
TD says Andy Bregenzer and Jill Gateman will jointly lead the operations.
The bank says the appointments follow the announcement earlier this year of Chris Giamo’s retirement.
Bregenzer will focus on leading all aspects of the regional commercial bank, including small business.
Gateman will lead TD’s national commercial banking effort in the U.S., including middle market, sponsor-backed finance and TD’s other specialty lending lines of business.
TD, which is working to resolve investigations into failures in its anti-money laundering program in the U.S., announced last week that chief executive Bharat Masrani would retire next year and be replaced by Raymond Chun.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
MONTREAL – Lightspeed Commerce Inc. says it is conducting a review of its business and operations including talks relating to a range of potential strategic alternatives.
The Montreal-based payments technology company made the comments after reports concerning a potential transaction involving the company.
Lightspeed says it periodically undertakes a review of its business and operations with a view of realizing its full potential.
A strategic review is often seen by investors as a prelude to a sale by a company.
Lightspeed says its board of directors is committed to acting in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders.
Company founder Dax Dasilva returned to the role of chief executive officer earlier this year and has been working to return the company to profitability.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
