The stock market faced downside pressure on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all opening lower amid a wave of news developments.
Dow opened 190 points lower to extend its negative trend after closing -0.4% on Wednesday, while S&P 500, which welcomed its new member Coinbase during the previous session, was down 0.33%. Nasdaq also saw a slight pullback as it opened 0.50% down.
As stocks fell, the crypto market seemed to follow suit. Top assets Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) declined by 1.3% to nearly $102k and 2.2% to $2,557 respectively. Oil prices also fell as the market reacted to Trump’s remarks about a potential nuclear deal with Iran.
Crypto and equities appeared to pull back as recent optimism around tariff rollbacks faded. In its place, new jitters emerged after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned of the likelihood of higher long-term interest rates, citing persistent “supply shocks” as a continued challenge for policymakers.
“We may be entering a period of more frequent, and potentially more persistent, supply shocks – a difficult challenge for the economy and for central banks,” Powell said in a speech at the Thomas Laubach Research Conference in Washington, D.C.
The Fed chair’s comments came just days after the central bank held its benchmark borrowing rate steady. U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Powell over the decision, reiterating claims that the Fed chair is always “too late.”
On Thursday, fresh data showed that retail sales slowed sharply in April, as tariffs weighed on consumer spending.
Spending rose in March amid Trump’s tariffs and the tensions that followed. However, consumers cooled spending in April. The economic impact of a trade agreement between the U.S. and the U.K. will be one to watch. Investors previously cheered the deals, including the U.S.-China one that saw the global trading powerhouses de-escalate with a 90-day pause.
Powell’s remarks and the upcoming Producer Price Index will be in sharp focus going forward, with investors keen to understand what they could mean for interest rates and the broader economy.
