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U.S. stocks finished mixed Friday as investors pointed to a continued risk-off tone, with energy underperforming.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) slumped by 0.2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added 0.4%, recovering from early-session losses. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) declined by 0.6%.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note ticked down to 3.815% Friday. The dollar index traded near the flatline at $103.88. Energy traded weaker, with U.S. benchmark WTI crude oil down about 2.7% to around $76.35 a barrel.
Stocks continued a downtrend from Thursday, when investors parsed through more hotter-than-expected economic data and hawkish Fedspeak — both of which continued as themes on Friday.
On the macro front Friday, January’s import prices slumped for the seventh consecutive month, declining to 0.2%, as lower fuel prices more than offset higher nonfuel prices, the Labor Department said Friday.
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin continued a more hawkish tone from officials, saying the labor market remains "quite hot" and the "risk of doing too much outweighs the risk of doing too little." Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman added more to that sentiment by signaling that central bank will need to continue raising interest rates until inflation reaches its 2% goal.
Data out Thursday showed supplier prices rose at a monthly increase of 0.7%, hotter than the 0.4% expected by economists. Coupled with a hot consumer price reading for the month, recent data has driven worries that the central bank will maintain its hawkish stance, drive interest rates higher, and keep them there longer.
That narrative got a boost following two other Fed officials' commentary on Thursday suggesting larger rate hikes this month amid sticky inflation.
“On the back of those comments, investors moved to price in a growing probability that the Fed might choose to move by more than 25bps at the next meeting in March,” Jim Reid and colleagues at Deutsche Bank wrote in an early morning note Friday morning.
Economists at Bank of America are forecasting a quarter-percentage point interest rate hike in March and May, and then a pause.
"Resurgent inflation and solid employment gains mean the risks to this outlook are too one-sided for our liking," wrote the team at Bank of America. "March and May hikes appear very likely, and the Fed might have to hike further if inflation, job growth, and consumer demand refuse to soften."
Meanwhile, there's a new coined debate to the "hard" or "soft" landing scenario among investors — the "no landing" outcome. The scenario would result in the economy growing, while inflation refuses to be tamed. Either narrative would likely lead to a "landing" eventually, Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Semenova reports.