By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Wall Street stocks wobbled in choppy but range-bound trading on Friday as rising hopes of a December rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve were countered by persistent concerns over lofty tech valuations.
At last glance, the tech-laden Nasdaq was modestly lower, the S&P 500 was slightly higher and the blue-chip Dow was moving more decisively into positive territory.
Benchmark Treasury yields were lower, the dollar steady and bitcoin sharply lower.
Capping a tumultuous week, U.S. and world stocks appear set to end lower than last Friday’s close, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq on track to record their largest weekly percentage loss since U.S. President Donald Trump rattled markets with his major tariff announcement in April.
Solid earnings from AI vanguards, most notably chipmaker Nvidia only momentarily quelled mounting concerns that AI-related tech stocks, which provided much of the muscle of the stock market’s rally in recent months, are overpriced and could be due for a correction.
The Fed, deprived of official economic data during the recently ended government shutdown, at last got a glimpse of the state of the labor market on Thursday, which showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticking higher.
As a result, financial markets are pricing in an increased likelihood of a third and final rate cut this year from the Fed. CME’s FedWatch tool sets the odds at 73.3%, a significant bump from 39.1% on Thursday.
Messaging from monetary policymakers is mixed. New York Fed President John Williams said the Fed could still cut rates in the near term, while Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan called for them to be left on hold while the central bank assesses the effect of current rates on the economy.
“We continue to see a push and pull between good news and bad news,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York. “There are ongoing valuation concerns, there are concerns about the Fed’s next move and the unemployment rate.”
“The fourth quarter, which tends to be the strongest for stocks in terms of performance, has certainly seen a choppy start,” Pursche added.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 200.09 points, or 0.44%, to 45,952.35, the S&P 500 rose 3.54 points, or 0.04%, to 6,541.66 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 81.74 points, or 0.38%, to 21,993.43.
European stocks slid on revived worries over stretched tech valuations.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 4.07 points, or 0.42%, to 964.46.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.44%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.43%.
Emerging market stocks fell 2.81% to 1,333.04. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed 2.83% lower at 684.69, while Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.40% to 48,625.88.
The dollar looked set to register a weekly gain, and the yen found support as Japanese officials stepped up their verbal intervention to stem the currency’s decline.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.12% to 100.28, with the euro down 0.22% at $1.1502.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.73% to 156.33.
Cryptocurrencies sank to multi-month lows amid a broader flight from riskier assets. Bitcoin fell 5.08% to $82,789.98. Ethereum declined 6.44% to $2,692.87.
U.S. Treasury yields dipped as Fed rate cut bets rose.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 3.9 basis points to 4.065%, from 4.104% late on Thursday.
The 30-year bond yield fell 1.2 basis points to 4.7199% from 4.732% late on Thursday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Fed, fell 5.3 basis points to 3.505%, from 3.558% late on Thursday.
Oil prices extended their decline for a third session as the U.S. pushed for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal.
U.S. crude fell 2.2% to $57.71 a barrel and Brent fell to $62.21 per barrel, down 1.81% on the day.
Gold pared earlier losses after dovish Fed comments boosted the probability of a December rate cut. Spot gold fell 0.31% to $4,064.19 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.35% to $4,070.90 an ounce.
(Reporting by Stephen Culp. Additional reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft. Editing by Mark Potter)
