U.S. stocks dipped Friday amid continued uncertainty over the direction of the economy and ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 305.88 points, or 0.91%, to close at 33,475.60. The S&P 500 fell 29.32 points, or 0.74%, to close at 3.934.29, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 77.39 points, or 0.70%, to close at 11,004.62.
The monthly consumer price index is due Tuesday and is key indicator on the direction of inflation, which remains at a 40-year high. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates 0.50% at the end of its two-day meeting that starts Wednesday. The expected increase is smaller than the previous four increases of 0.75% each, but concerns are still mounting over whether the Fed’s aggressive action to blunt inflation will lead to recession.
Some stocks that declined Friday included Meta Platforms (GOOG), which closed at $142.965, down $1.71, or 1.21%. Amazon‘s (AMZN) price of shares fell $1.89, or 2.14%, to close at $90.35.
“It’s our expectation that we really need to see inflation come down closer to the fed funds rate for the Fed to pause, and we still have quite a bit of delta between those numbers,” Stephanie Lang, chief investment officer at Homrich Berg told CNBC. “There’s still a bit of work to be done on the inflation front to really see that as the reality.”
