- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed with a significant loss. It was put under pressure by weak earnings forecasts from listed US companies. In addition, investors are concerned that the U.S. economy could be adversely affected by the accelerated interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 33,811.40, down 981.36, or -2.82.
The S&P 500 closed at 4,271.78, down 121.88, or -2.77%.
The Nasdaq closed at 12,839.29, down 335.36, or -2.55%.
- Crude oil futures closed lower due to negative factors such as a weaker global economic growth outlook, rising interest rates, and a lockdown in China to combat COVID-19, which is impacting oil demand.
WTI crude futures fell $1.72, or 1.7%, at $102.07 a barrel.
BRENT crude futures fell $1.68, or 1.6%, at $106.65 a barrel.
- The gold contract closed under pressure from the appreciation of the U.S. dollar and fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates to curb inflation. Gold saw a drop on Friday after Fed Chairman Powell spoke on Thursday about the Fed’s interest rate policy.
Gold fell $13.9, or -0.71%, at $1,934.3 per ounce and was down 2.1% for the week.
Silver was down 36.2 cents, or -1.47%, at $24.259 an ounce.
The platinum contract was down $40.4, or -4.17%, at $927.4 an ounce.
Palladium was down $43.90, or -1.8%, at $2,376.30 an ounce.
- The U.S. dollar appreciated against major currencies in the currency basket as investors bought the greenback. The Federal Reserve (Fed) is very likely to raise interest rates by 0.50% at its meeting next month to curb inflation.
The dollar index against the six major currencies in a basket of currencies rose 0.64% to 101.22.
The US dollar strengthened against the yen at 128.59 yen from 128.27 yen.
The dollar strengthened against the Swiss franc at 0.9568 francs from 0.9531 francs.
The US dollar was also stronger against the Canadian dollar at 1.2717 Canadian dollars from 1.2582 Canadian dollars.
The euro was lower against the dollar at $1.0789 from $1.0841.
The pound fell to $1.2825 from $1.3028.
The Australian dollar fell to $0.7239 from $0.7369.