NEW YORK, June 17 — Wall Street shares opened higher today trying to recoup some of the losses suffered in recent days amid aggressive central bank action against inflation that has flamed recession fears.
Investors initially welcomed the Federal Reserve's super-sized rate hike on Wednesday, pushing share prices higher, but saw steep declines on Thursday following moves by other central banks including the Bank of England.
About 30 minutes into the final trading session of the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent at 30,083.37, after closing below 30,000 for the first time since January 2021.
The broad-based S&P 500, which entered a "bear market" earlier this week, gained 0.9 percent to 3,698.52, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rebounded 1.4 percent to 10,799.22.
But Patrick J O'Hare of Briefing.com noted that the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 are down 4.7 percent, 6.1 percent, and 6.0 percent, respectively, for the week.
"Those losses have mounted on the back of economic growth concerns, which have been an offshoot of aggressive rate-hike actions from many of the world's leading central banks racing to combat inflation," he said in an analysis.
And despite the early gains, he said it is unclear they will be sustained.
In economic data, US industrial production in May rose just 0.2 percent, according to the Fed, much slower than April and weaker than expected.
Meanwhile, The Conference Board said 60 percent of CEOs globally expect a recession in their region by the end of next year if not sooner. — AFP
2024-09-08 02:40:31