S&P 500 extending Thursday's downside as US equities struggle
- S&P 500 firmly off course as US equities take a tumble on hawkish Fed.
- Equity indexes extending daily declines heading into Friday market session.
- US Treasury yields stepped higher as Fed sees rate higher for longer.
The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 continued its trip down the charts, sliding into $4,330.00 to end Thursday trading down 1.64%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) declined over 370 points to end the day at $34,070.42, retreating 1.08%.
The biggest loser for the major US equity indexes was the NASDAQ Composite, backsliding 1.82% to end Thursday at $13,223.99.
The S&P is down 2.55% from Wednesday's pre-Federal Reserve (Fed) peak, and has declined over 4% since last Friday's peak of $4,515.
Fed to see rates held higher longer, knocking equities back for a second day
The Fed held rates at 5.5% as markets broadly expected, but the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised their forward-looking rate expectations, with Fed officials seeing the year-end interest rate for 2024 at 5.1% versus the previously forecast 4.6%.
Inflation continues to recede in the US domestic economy, but sticking points remain and the Fed is leery of approaching a rate cut cycle too quickly, and interest rates are now only expected to decline by half a percent next year.
S&P 500 technical outlook
The S&P's decline for Thursday sees the equity index tumbling through the 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) currently resting just below $4,400.00.
The week's action also sees the S&P 500 skidding through a rising trendline from March's early lows near $3,800.00, and the equity index's recovery appears to be under threat as prices inch towards the 200-day SMA currently rising into the $4,200.00 region.
S&P 500 daily chart
S&P 500 technical levels
Author
Joshua Gibson
FXStreet
Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.
