The Dow fell more than 100 points in the last trading day of April. This was the month that Wall Street stocks fell sharply.
At 8:47 p.m. Thai time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 33,777.53, minus 138.86, or 0.41%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed more than 600 points yesterday on strong earnings from listed companies. That helped overshadow negative factors from a report that the US economy contracted 1.4% in the first quarter of 2012, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 1.1% expansion.
About half of the companies listed in the S&P 500 have reported first-quarter results, with 80 percent of them earning above analysts’ expectations.
Wall Street stocks tumbled in April. It has been affected by concerns regarding rising inflation, accelerating interest rates by the US Federal Reserve (Fed), the war between Russia and Ukraine. and the spread of COVID-19 The Dow is down 2.2% since the start of this month, while the S&P 500 is down 5.4% and the Nasdaq is down more than 10% and is on track for its worst month since March. 2020 which at that time the United States began to face the epidemic of COVID-19
Investors are keeping an eye on the Fed’s May 3-4 monetary policy meeting amid concerns regarding the Fed’s accelerating interest rate hikes. After Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said he encouraged the Fed to move faster to combat inflation. and indicated there was a chance the Fed would raise interest rates by 0.50% at its May meeting. This will be the first time the Fed has raised interest rates by 0.50% since 2000.
Markets are also worried that the Fed will raise interest rates more strongly following May. might be raised by 0.75% to curb inflation
The disclosure of US economic numbers today. The US Commerce Department said The general personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, which includes food and energy, jumped 6.6 percent in March from a year ago. which is the largest increase since January 1982
On a monthly basis, the headline PCE index rebounded 0.9% in March from 0.5% in February.
Core PCE Index, which excludes food and energy It is a measure of inflation that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) focuses on, up 5.2 percent in March year on year. It was lower than analysts’ estimates of 5.3 percent, following rising 5.3 percent in February.
On a monthly basis, the core PCE index rose 0.3% in March, in line with analysts’ expectations.
The PCE Index is a measure of inflation that can detect changes in consumer behavior. And it covers a broader range of prices for goods and services than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the US Department of Labor.
