Wall Street ends down, snaps weekly winning streak on Fed worries

On Friday, US stocks closed lower, covering a week dominated by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony wherein he signalled more interest rate hikes but vowed the central bank would proceed cautiously.

All three major US stock indexes lost in a broad sell-off. Interest-sensitive megacap stocks are considered heaviest on the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index, led by Microsoft, Tesla Inc and Nvidia.

The Nasdaq broke its eight-week winning streak, its longest since March 2019, while the S&P 500 lost its five-week rally, its longest since November 2021.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq recorded their biggest Friday percentage fall since March, when the regional banking liquidity hit.

Financial markets have baked in a 74.4% prospect that the Fed will recommence hiking the Fed funds target rate by 25 bps at the July meeting, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 219.28 bps, or 0.65%, to 33,727.43, the S&P 500 lost 33.56 bps, or 0.77%, to 4,348.33 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 138.09 bps, or 1.01%, to 13,492.52.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors lost ground, with utilities suffering the largest percentage loss. Chips balanced on tech shares, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index sliding 1.8%.

Used car marketplace Carmax Inc forwarded better quarterly profits, sending its shares surging 10.1%.

Starbucks fell 2.5% after its unions said 3,500 US workers would strike to protest the chain’s ban on Pride month decorations at its cafes.

The CBOE Market Volatility index, investor anxiety settled at up 0.53 bps at 13.44, bouncing off a 3-1/2 year low.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 2.39-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.03-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

The S&P 500 sent 18 new 52-week highs and four new lows; the Nasdaq Composite chronicled 35 new highs and 138 new lows.

The Russell 2000 confirmed the rebuilding of its stock components, which fuelled the trading volume surge.

US exchanges volume was 15.93 billion shares, associated with the 11.68 billion average for the full assembly over the last 20 trading days.

Drone Manufacturer ideaForge announced on June 23 that it successfully raised Rs 255 crore from investors in an anchor round ahead of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) that opens for public subscription on Monday.

According to a circular uploaded on the BSE website, the company allocated 37.93 lakh equity shares to 31 funds for Rs 672 per share, with the transaction size totalling Rs 255 crore.

Notable anchor investors, including Nomura Funds Ireland Public Ltd, Pinebridge Global Funds, Goldman Sachs Funds, and Tata AIA Life Insurance Company and domestic mutual funds (MF) like ICICI Prudential MF, Axis MF, HDFC MF and Quant MF participated in the anchor round.

The company also raised Rs 60 crore in a pre-IPO placement round last week from institutional investors, including Tata AIG General Insurance, 360 ONE Special Opportunities Fund, Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund, and Think Investments PCC.

The Rs 550.69 crore to Rs 567.24 crore IPO, depending on the price band of Rs 638 to 672 per share, consists of a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 240 crore and an offer for sale of 48,69,712 equity shares with a reservation for subscription by eligible employees and will be open from June 26 to June 29.

The proceeds from the fresh issuance of Rs 50 crore will be utilised for debt payment, Rs 40 crore for investment in product development, Rs 135 towards funding the working capital gap, and the remaining amount for general corporate purposes.

ideaForge has been backed by prominent ventures and marquee private equity investors such as Qualcomm Asia, Infosys and Celesta Capital, with Mathew Cyriac-backed Florintree Enterprises being the single largest shareholder in the company with an 11.85% stake.