On Sunday night, Stock futures in the United States were lower after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered their worst week in nearly two months.
S&P 500 futures slid by 0.26%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 64 points, or 0.19%, and Nasdaq-100 futures cascaded 0.31%.
All three major indexes concluded the week on a downward trend. The Dow finished the week down 0.17%. The S&P 500 dipped by 1.11%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.41%, marking their biggest weekly losses ever since December.
These losses occurred after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell mentioned that the fight against inflation still has a long way to go. Powell also noted that interest rates could soar more than markets expected if inflation numbers do not abate, reversing some of the prior market optimism that price hikes would soon ease.
In a Friday memo, Barclays analyst Emmanuel Cau authored that “The risk, however, is that premature easing in financial conditions, and in turn, a pick-up in growth expectations, may be counterproductive from an inflation fighting point of view. Indeed, post the hot January payrolls report, a number of Fed speakers this week have talked up rates expectations, pushing back on Powell’s dovish talk. As a result, the disconnect between the Fed’s own rates forecasts and market pricing has noticeably narrowed, which has hurt US equities.”
Investors will be watching the consumer price index numbers and retail sales data on Tuesday for clues about the speed of inflation.
Coca-Cola, Marriott, Cisco, Marathon, and Paramount are among the companies set to report earnings next week.