S&P 500 retreats to all-time high as tech wreck weighs in by Investing.com

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 retreated but remains near record highs on Friday as a Snap-induced tech meltdown prompted caution just as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tried to appease concerns about the prospect of past rate hikes.

The index was down 0.1%, just short of its previous intraday high of 4,559.70, adding 0.3%, or 120 points, dropping 0.7%.

“It’s time to decrease, not increase rates,” said Powell. The remarks came amid growing concerns that the Fed may be forced to hike rates as soon as possible to curb inflationary pressures.

The Fed chief continued to suggest that the pace of inflation remained transient, while saying the central bank would use its tools to “bring inflation down to 2% over time.”

“At the same time, we believe that we can be patient and allow the recovery to take place and allow the labor market to heal,” he added.

Technology, which played an important role in the recent market merger, was under pressure after Snap’s warning of slowing revenue growth following changes Apple made to its mobile operating system, iOS. .

Apple (NASDAQ 🙂 announced earlier this year that, as part of the iOS 14 update, it will offer users the ability to block apps from accessing IDFA or following the advertiser on their iPhones.

Snap (NYSE 🙂 also blamed supply chain headwinds as another factor for the below-consensus 4Q21 forecast.

But supply issues and events “should ultimately prove to be transient as advertisers gradually adopt new tools to more accurately measure events in a post-IDFA world and also as issues such as traffic congestion. ports and labor shortages are returning to pre-pandemic levels “, Swiss credit (SIX 🙂 CSGN said in a note.

Facebook (NASDAQ :), Twitter (NYSE 🙂 and Pinterest (NYSE 🙂 are down more than 4%.

Financials, meanwhile, were pushed up by better-than-expected quarterly results from regional banking stocks and American Express .

SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ 🙂 raised its growth outlook for full year 2021 following third quarter results that beat both bottom line and bottom line, sending its share over 5%

“This is the strongest preliminary guide the company has introduced in many years. […]”Wedbush said, raising his target for the share price to $ 800.00 from $ 775.00.

Highlights include average loan growth in the mid-1920s percentage range, net interest income in the mid-1930s percentage range (we previously assumed 24%), fee income base in the mid-1920s percentage range… “he added.

American Express (NYSE 🙂 also rose 5% after Credit Card reported third quarter earnings and revenue topped Wall Street estimates and guided 2022 earnings per share to the upper end of its range. forecast.

In China, meanwhile, Evergrande real estate looks set to avoid default after apparently paying a key debt payment before a default deadline.

In other news, Acquisition of the digital world Corp (NASDAQ 🙂 more than doubled, adding to its 357% rise on Thursday before PSPC’s much-anticipated merger with the social media platform planned by former President Donald Trump.