© Reuters.
Investing.com – Wall Street is heading to a negative end to the week, with sentiment hit by the possibility of further monetary tightening later in the year.
The three major indexes closed mixed on Thursday, but the is on track to close down 1% this week, the is down 0.6% and the is down 0.4%, breaking consecutive series of multi-weekly increases.
Fed speakers in focus
The Federal Reserve chairman reiterated that the US central bank is likely to raise interest rates a couple more times during the second day of his semi-annual testimony on Thursday.
“We don’t want to do more than necessary,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee. “The vast majority of (Federal Open Market) Committee members think there will be more rate hikes, but we want to do them at a pace that allows us to see the information coming.”
a greater than 75% probability of a rate hike in July; investors will focus on comments from a number of Fed officials, including St. Louis Fed Chairman James Bullard, Atlanta Fed Chairman Raphael Bostic and Cleveland Fed Chair Loretta Mester, for more clues about the future monetary policy.
PMI data is important
Friday’s main economic data will be June surveys on the , which should show the country’s activity stagnating on the , as the sector continues to expand.
However, this follows surprisingly weak readings in the euro area, Japan and the UK, suggesting downside risk is a possibility.
In corporate news, earnings are expected from used car seller CarMax (NYSE:) and building materials supplier Apogee Enterprises (NASDAQ:).
Oil down; heavy weekly losses likely
Crude oil prices weakened on Friday, taking large losses for the week after a string of interest rate hikes, and warnings of further hikes in the US, raised concerns about global demand growth.
At the time of writing the contracts were down 1.3% to $68.64 a barrel, while the contract was down 1.1% to $73.06 a barrel. Both contracts are now on the brink of losing more than 3% each this week.
The hawkish stance taken by several central banks this week has raised fears that economic activity is suffering, hitting demand for oil this year.
In addition, the pair rose 0.3% to $1,929.05 an ounce, while the exchange rate fell 0.7% to $1.0877.
(Article produced with the contribution of Oliver Gray).