NEW YORK, New York – Inflation fears re-emerged Friday, sending stock markets into a tailspin.
“This market has been pretty jittery this week, so any disappointing data is going to have an outsized impact as we’re seeing in the early movements,” B. Riley’s chief market strategist Art Hogan told CNBC Friday. “This may test its recent lows, but I don’t think it’s going to push us to new lows. I think it’s just more confirmation that the Fed is likely going to go to 5 percent and 5.25 percent, which is consensus.”
“Therefore, I don’t think this is enough to say the rally of 2023 is over. I just don’t think that’s the case. I think a lot of this is baked into what our expectations are for monetary policy already,” he said.
The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 195.46 points or 1.69 percent to 11,394.94.
The Dow Jones industrials dived 336.99 points or 1.02 percent to 32,816.92.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 dropped 42.28 points or 1.05 percent to 3,970.04.
“The US Dollar resumed its advance on Friday, rallying against all of its major rivals and pushing the EUR/USD rate down to fresh February lows,” FX Street.com said Friday. “The USD benefited throughout the first half of the week from a risk-averse environment amid geopolitical tensions between Russia and Western nations. Additionally, hawkish United States Federal Reserve (Fed) messages fueled demand for the greenback, whilst European Central Bank (ECB) officials were also out with combative words.”
In the latest foreign exchange market update approaching the U.S. close Friday, the euro tumbled to 1.0546, a decrease of 0.45 percent. The dollar made gains against the Japanese yen, pushing the rate down to 136.414, a 1.28 percent or 1.728 decline. The U.S. dollar also saw positive gains against the Canadian dollar, with the USD/CAD exchange rate finishing at 1.3604, an increase of 0.42 percent.
Meanwhile, the British pound experienced a decrease in value against the US dollar, with the GBP/USD exchange rate closing at 1.19417, a loss of 0.58. The Swiss franc dived to 0.9408, a decline of 0.74.
Both the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar were down sharply, with the Aussie sliding 1.18 percent to 0.6726. The New Zealand dollar dropped 1.01 percent to 0.6164.
These fluctuations were mainly driven by fears of inflation trending higher, and various economic and geopolitical factors influencing the market, such as government policies, global events, and investor sentiment.
As the closing bell rang out across stock markets worldwide Friday, investors anxiously awaited the final figures for the day’s trading. The FTSE 100 in the UK closed at 7,878.66, down 0.37 percent or 29.06 points. The ESTX 50 PR.EUR in Europe closed at 4,178.82, down 1.86 percent or 79.34 points. The Euronext 100 Index closed at 1,336.64, down 1.58 percent or 21.41 points, and the BEL 20 in Belgium closed at 3,859.50, down 0.75 percent or 29.02 points.
In Germany, the DAX closed at 15,209.74, down 1.72 percent or 265.95 points. The CAC 40 in Paris, France ended the week at 7,187.27, down 1.78 percent or 130.16 points on the day.
In Russia, the MOEX Russia Index closed at 2,222.51, down 0.19 percent or 4.14 points
Meanwhile, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed at 27,453.48, up 1.29 percent or 349.16 points. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed at 20,010.04, down 1.68 percent or 341.31 points.
China’s SSE Composite Index finished at 3,267.16, down 0.62 percent or 20.32 points, while the Shenzhen Index closed at 11,787.45, down 0.81 percent or 96.85 points.
In India, the S&P BSE SENSEX closed at 59,463.93, down 0.24 percent or 141.87 points, while the IDX COMPOSITE in Indonesia closed at 6,856.58, up 0.25 percent or 17.12 points. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI in Malaysia closed at 1,456.80, down 0.06 percent or 0.85 points, and
Finally, the KOSPI Composite Index in South Korea closed at 2,423.61, down 0.63 percent or 15.48 points.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia closed at 7,307.00, up 0.30 percent or 21.60 points. Meantime the Australian All Ordinaries edged up 20.20 points or 0.15 percent to 7,512.70.
The S&P/NZX 50 in New Zealand closed at 11,905.75, up 0.15 percent or 17.25 points.
In South Africa, the Top 40 USD Net TRI Index closed at 4,131.86, down 3.84 percent or 164.85 points, , and the STI Index in Singapore closed at 3,282.30, up 0.53 percent or 17.37 points.