The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all recorded a decrease
The stock market has been affected by the growing worries surrounding inflation as well as geopolitical conflict as the investor sentiment on Wall Street was seen to be dented, as reported in an article by CNBC.
The market saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average close at 37,983.24 as it went down by 1.24%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 went down by 1.46%, reaching 5,123.41 and the Nasdaq Composite decline by 1.62% to 16,175.09.
After posting the results of its first quarter, banking giant JP Morgan Chase saw its shares decline by more than 6%. According to the bank, net interest income may be a bit short of what the analysts from Wall Street were expecting to see in 2024. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon pointed out the presence of the persistent inflationary pressures were impacting the economy.
Wells Fargo also saw a decline by 0.4% following the release of its latest quarterly figures report while Citigroup felt a 1.7% decrease.
Due to reports regarding Israel’s preparations against a direct attack from Iran, US crude oil closed at $85.66 per barrel.
“We’re getting further risk off sentiment heading into the weekend. You’re seeing there’s a flight to safety trade, with the dollar stronger, and we’re seeing equities sell off,” said Rob Haworth, US Bank Wealth Management’s senior investment strategist.
Haworth further noted that some investors were cautiously treading the situation as the inflation data showed that the economy was still hot, and inflation remained sticky.
“That comes on the heels of the inflation data that tells us the economy’s still pretty hot and inflation is sticky; that’s what led [investors] to really adjust their expectations around the Fed… That’s some of why they’re getting cautious headed into the weekend,” said Haworth.
University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers found that with consumers showing growing concern regarding inflationary pressures, April’s consumer sentiment index was at 77.9, which was below the consensus estimate of Dow Jones which was 79.9.
