Key stock indices on Wall Street opened lower on Thursday after mixed financial reports from major technology firms and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell raised doubts about further interest rate cuts this year.
At 09:30 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 196.40 points, or 0.41%, to 47,435.60, the S&P 500 lost 35.33 points, or 0.51%, to 6,855.79 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 173.98 points, or 0.73%, to 23,784.50.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 25 basis points but Chair Jerome Powell signaled a subtle shift toward a more conservative stance, indicating that further rate cut — particularly the expected cut in December — are not guaranteed.
Markets digested a generally upbeat meeting between the US and Chinese leaders in Busan, South Korea. Marking their first talks in six years, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed to de-escalate the trade war, with the US lowering some tariffs and China committing to sustained supplies of critical rare earths.
A host of major companies reported quarterly results, with Facebook parent Meta sinking more than 11% while Google parent Alphabet won 4.1%.