U.S. stocks post weekly decline amid growth anxieties, Fed announcement

NEW YORK, march 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. equities suffered weekly losses as investors grew concerned over global economic slowdown while digesting the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement.

In the week ending march 22, the Dow and the SP 500 fell 1.34 percent and 0.77 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq declined about 0.6 percent.

Investors had a brutal Friday, highlighted by a steep sell-off in tech-heavy shares and bank stocks, as downbeat economic data from major European countries and the Federal Reserve's cautious outlook on the U.S. economy reignited fears of slowing global growth.

Shares of U.S. tech giants or the so-called FAANG group of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet, all declined.

The SP 500 financials sector decreased 2.77 percent on Friday. The bank stocks rout was mainly due to a yield curve inversion.

On Friday, the spread between the U.S. 3-month Treasury bill yield and the 10-year note rate turned negative, the first time since 2007, according to Refinitiv Tradeweb data.

An inverted yield curve happens when short-term rates surpass their longer-term counterparts, putting a damper bank lending profits.

Yield curve inversion is also considered an important indicator of a recession coming in the near future, experts noted.

Friday saw weak data from major European countries. The euro zone economy lost momentum again in march, expanding only modestly as manufacturers reported their steepest downturn for six years, said the global information provider IHS Markit.

The IHS Markit Flash Germany manufacturing PMI registered 44.7 in march, down from 47.6 in February, its lowest reading in over six-and-half years.

In France, the manufacturing index fell from 51.5 to 49.8 and the services index fell from 50.2 to 48.7, according to the IHS Markit report.

Investors were worried that a global slowdown will take a toll on the U.S. economy.

Friday's markets were also pressured by falling Boeing and Nike stocks.

Boeing stock decreased 2.83 percent after reports said that Indonesian airline Garuda canceled its order for 49 Boeing 737 Max jets.

Nike shares dropped more than 6.61 percent at the close, among the worst performers in the Dow, after the U.S. athletic apparel company posted sales growth in North America that missed estimates.

Wall Street embraced a busy week, featuring a key Fed meeting.

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced to leave interest rates unchanged after concluding a two-day policy meeting Wednesday afternoon. The move met market expectations and reflected the central bank's patient approach regarding monetary policy changes.

In support of the goals of fostering maximum employment and price stability, the Federal Open Market Committee decided to maintain the target range for the Federal funds rate at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, the central bank said in a statement.

"In light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures, the Committee will be patient as it determines what future adjustments to the target range for the Federal funds rate may be appropriate to support these outcomes," it said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. central bank also lowered its economic growth forecast for 2019.

"Interest rates have traditionally been a huge factor in the market," said Peter Tuchman, a trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

"They've done the work they needed to do, and at this point we need to put a little pause on it and let the economy catch up to the rising interest rate," he noted.

Wall Street also digested a slew of newly-released economic data.

In the week ending march 16, the number of people filing for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped by 9,000 to 221,000 from the previous week's revised figure, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the jobless claims to total 225,000.

The reading of jobless claims remained below the 300,000 threshold, which signals a tight labor market in the United States.

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods edged up 0.1 percent in January, following a 0.1 percent December increase, the Department of Commerce reported on Tuesday. The reading, another sign pointing to slower economic growth, fell short of economists' estimates of 0.4 percent increase polled by MarketWatch.