Tickets to this yearâs Singapore Formula One Grand Prix race, resuming in the city-state after a two-year hiatus, were released for sale Wednesday and drew strong demand, with three-day grandstand and hospitality packages snapped up within six hours.
The Dow rose and the S&P 500 ended lower in choppy trade on Friday, as beaten-down bank shares gained and investors grappled with how best to deal with an economy that could skid as the Federal Reserve moves to aggressively tackle inflation.
Still, this might not be enough to save Amazon stock, at least for the interim. As powerful as the company is, it appears to be no match for the Federal Reserve.Inflation and the Uphill Battle for AMZN StockYou donât need to be an economist to recognize that something is very wrong: A quick trip to the gasoline station will tell you that immediately. On a personal level, I almost spent a Benjamin filling up my tank â a first by a country mile.
Wall Street's main indexes fell on Wednesday, with steep declines in tech and other growth stocks, after minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting sharpened investors' focus on the U.S. central bank's plans to fight inflation.
After brutal sell-offs in recent months, growth-dependent tech stocks have recently been regaining some ground. However, many companies in the category still trade down dramatically from their highs, and there's still time to snatch up some promising technology players at huge discounts.
The S&P 500 rose modestly to kick off the second quarter on Friday, as the monthly jobs report indicated a strong labor market and is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on track to maintain its hawkish policy stance.
As inflation intensifies, so does speculation the Federal Reserve may get more aggressive in raising interest rates, which could put a damper on economic growth.
The March jobs report takes center stage this week. The Labor Departmentâs monthly snapshot of U.S. employment will be closely watched by market participants and will carry special weight as Federal Reserve officials appear to signal more hawkishness in the central bank's rate-hiking plans
Oil prices rallied 5% to over $121 a barrel and natural gas futures also jumped. While higher oil prices benefit energy shares, they are a negative for consumers and many businesses. The S&P 500 energy sector rose 1.7% and utilities gained 0.2%, while all of the other major S&P 500 sectors were lower on the day.
Financial shares also were among the day's best performers as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 2.368%, with the S&P 500 bank index up 2.5%.
In 2021, Xiaomi total revenue amounted to RMB328.3 billion, an increase of 33.5% year-over-year; adjusted net profit was RMB22.0 billion, an increase of 69.5% year-over-year.
Geopolitics will also be in focus this week. U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Brussels for a two-day meeting with NATO and EU leaders. The focus will be Western allies' response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Investors were also relieved by slowing gains in oil prices as they continued to digest the Federal Reserve's Wednesday interest rate increase and its aggressive plan for further hikes aimed at combating soaring inflation.
The central bank announced a quarter-percentage-point increase in its benchmark overnight rate as was widely expected but the projection that its rate would hit between 1.75% and 2% by year's end was more hawkish than some investors said they had expected.
The S&P 500 ended lower after a volatile session on Monday, with investors wrestling with uncertainty and bank stocks dropping following powerful Western sanctions against Russia as it continued its invasion of Ukraine.
Following news of Russia invading Ukraine, the S&P 500 index slipped to being down more than 10% from its peak -- marking an official entry into correction territory. The benchmark index's level has recently regained a bit of ground, but it's still down roughly 9% from last year's peak and 8% across 2022's trading.