U.S. stocks extended losses midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite dropping over 300 points on Friday.
Powell said the Federal Reserve’s goal remains getting inflation back down to a goal of 2%. “Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy,” Powell said. “Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone.”
The Dow traded down 1.54% to 32,778.45 while the NASDAQ fell 2.43% to 12,332.10. The S&P 500 also fell, dropping, 1.92% to 4,118.42.
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Leading and Lagging Sectors
Utilities shares fell by just 0.4% on Friday. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Black Hills Corporation (NYSE:BKH), up 0.4% and The York Water Company (NASDAQ:YORW) up 0.3%.
In trading on Friday, communication services shares dipped by 2.8%.
Top Headline
U.S. personal spending rose 0.1% month-over-month in July, while personal income increased 0.2%. The personal consumption expenditure price index declined 0.1% month-over-month in July after increasing 1% in June.
Equities Trading UP
Micro Focus International plc (NYSE:MFGP) shares shot up 94% to $6.06 after the company reached an agreement with OpenText to be acquired for $6 billion.
Shares of American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVCT) got a boost, shooting 25% to $0.1697 after the company announced changes to its board of directors and management team, along with the launch of a review to explore the sale of the entire business or selected assets.
Farfetch Limited (NYSE:FTCH) shares were also up, gaining 25% to $11.94 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Additionally, multiple analysts raised their price target on the stock.
Equities Trading DOWN
Domo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOMO) shares tumbled 29% to $20.43 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q2 sales results and issued Q3 and FY23 sales guidance below analyst estimates. Additionally, multiple analysts lowered their price target on the stock.
Shares of Affirm Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) were down 20% to $24.97 after the company reported worse-than-expected Q4 EPS results and issued Q1 FY23 sales guidance below estimates.
Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) was down, falling 24% to $0.1330 after the company reported a 1-for-25 reverse stock split.
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Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $91.81, while gold traded down 1% to $1,752.90.
Silver traded down 0.7% to $18.99 on Friday while copper rose 0.5% to $3.7165.
Euro zone
European shares were lower today. The eurozone’s STOXX 600 fell 1.53%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.57% while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index fell 1.47%. The German DAX declined 1.96%, French CAC 40 fell 1.58% and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index dipped 2.13%.
Loans to households in the Eurozone increased 4.5% year-over-year in July. Italian consumer confidence climbed by 3.5 points to 98.3 in August from 94.8 a month ago, while manufacturing confidence declined by 2.1 points to 104.3 in August.
The consumer confidence index in France rose to 82 in August from 80 in July, while GfK Consumer Climate Indicator for Germany declined to a fresh record low level of -36.5 heading into September.
Economics
The US goods trade deficit shrank to $89.1 billion in July from a revised $98.6 billion in the prior month.
U.S. personal spending rose 0.1% month-over-month in July, while personal income increased 0.2%. The personal consumption expenditure price index declined 0.1% month-over-month in July after increasing 1% in June.
Wholesale inventories rose by 0.8% month-over-month to $902.9 billion in July.
The University of Michigan consumer sentiment was revised higher to 58.2 in August from a preliminary reading of 55.1.
The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week is scheduled for release at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Check out this: Investor Sentiment Improves With Powell's Speech In Focus
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 95,844,670 cases with around 1,068,110 deaths. India confirmed a total of at least 44,389,170 cases and 527,550 deaths, while France reported over 34,428,730 COVID-19 cases with 153,800 deaths. In total, there were at least 604,479,650 cases of COVID-19 worldwide with more than 6,483,560 deaths.
