THE S&P 500 ended higher on Friday (Aug 9) and was little changed for the week after regaining almost all of its losses from Monday’s steep dive that was prompted by fears of a recession and unwinding of a global yen-funded carry trade.
The technology sector gave the index its biggest boost on Friday, and the Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” fell after surging at the start of the week.
Monday’s big decline followed a sharp sell-off last week as a weaker-than-expected July jobs report sparked recession fears, and investors unwound currency carry trade positions involving the Japanese yen.
“Investors are trying to find evidence of a bottom,” said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Austin, Texas.
On Thursday, Federal Reserve policymakers expressed confidence that inflation was cooling enough to allow rate cuts ahead, and said they will take their cues on the size and timing of those cuts from the economic data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 51.05 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 39,497.54, the S&P 500 gained 24.85 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 5,344.16 and the Nasdaq Composite added 85.28 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 16,745.30.
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For the week, the S&P 500 was down 0.1 per cent, the Dow was down 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq was down 0.2 per cent.
“There is going to continue to be a significant amount of uncertainty and anxiety hanging over the market for the course of the next month until we get to the next Fed meeting,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
Investors see a 55 per cent chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by 50 basis points at its next policy meeting on Sep 17 to 18, with a 25 basis point cut seen as having a 45 per cent probability, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
Investors also await next week’s readings on US consumer prices and retail sales for July, which could provide fresh evidence on the chances of a soft landing for the American economy.
Among individual stocks, videogame publisher Take-Two Interactive Software climbed 4.4 per cent as it expects net bookings to grow in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
Expedia also advanced 10.2 per cent after the online travel agency beat analysts’ expectations for second-quarter profit.
Volume on US exchanges was 11.1 billion shares, compared with the 12.6 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.4 to one ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.1 to one ratio favoured decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and three new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 159 new lows. REUTERS
