NEW YORK, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as investors reacted to the keynote address by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the central bank's Jackson Hole economic symposium.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 9.45 points, or 0.02 percent, to 53,559.99. The S&P 500 sank 19.23 points, or 0.25 percent, to 7,711.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 138.93 points, or 0.52 percent, to 26,402.42.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in the red, with technology and utilities leading the laggards by dropping 1.29 percent and 1.14 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, consumer discretionary and communication services led the gainers by adding 1.69 percent and 1.56 percent, respectively.
Speaking at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Warsh said, "On the price stability side of our mandate, the numbers are more concerning."
Warsh's remarks came as broad inflation measures have fallen from their 2022 peaks, though Warsh characterized the progress over the past two years as modest. He pointed specifically to the personal consumption expenditures price index, noting that "the numbers are more concerning."
Market sentiment turned cautious after Warsh emphasized that domestic inflation remains elevated and that restoring price stability remains the Federal Reserve's primary objective. Wall Street interpreted the remarks as hawkish, pushing short-term U.S. Treasury yields higher and lifting market expectations of a quarter-point rate increase at the Fed's September meeting to 57 percent, according to CME FedWatch.
"We got far more here from Chair Warsh than we were getting from his two FOMC meetings to date. He was keen not to provide forward guidance, but his words smacked of forward guidance; he was net hawkish," wrote Padhraic Garvey, Americas regional head of research at ING. "That does not guarantee anything, but front end rates are higher and back end rates lower as a reaction. Seems fair. Nothing on the Treasury buybacks, as expected."
In the corporate arena, PayPal plummeted nearly 13 percent following reports that private equity firm Advent International and payments company Stripe abandoned a proposed 50-billion-U.S.-dollar acquisition bid. Marvell Technology declined following its second-quarter earnings disclosure, while apparel retailer Gap jumped 12.94 percent after announcing a new CEO for its Old Navy division.
On the macroeconomic front, a final reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 51.7 in August from 55.2 in July. The figure showed a slight improvement from earlier preliminary estimates and came in above market expectations. ■