Wall Street opens lower as mixed earnings, hawkish Fed view weigh

Markets were rattled on Thursday when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a half-point interest rate increase was “on the table” at the bank’s policy meeting next month, underscoring the institution’s willingness to aggressively tighten lending conditions to fight record US inflation.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, a benchmark for borrowing costs, was just below 2.9 percent early Friday in anticipation of the central bank’s move.

The tech sector continued to deal with the fallout caused by a massive plunge in Netflix stock earlier this week following a big earnings miss.

About an hour into trading, the benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 1.3 percent to 34,354.26.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.1 percent to 4,343.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 0.8 percent lower at 4,343.39.

Friday was the last day of the World Bank and IMF spring meetings held in Washington, during which the IMF downgraded its global growth forecast due to the aftershocks from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, further rattling markets.

Next week will bring more earnings reports from big companies including Boeing, Coca-Cola, Chevron and ExxonMobil, as well as data on durable goods orders and US consumer income and spending.