by Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange ended in mixed order on Thursday as investors feared inflation could stay high for longer than expected, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates even more aggressively.
The Dow Jones index fell -0.33%, or 103.81 points, to 31,730.3 points.
The broader S&P-500 fell 5.1 points, or -0.13%, to 3,930.08 points.
The Nasdaq Composite advanced for its part by 6.73 points (0.06%) to 11,370.96 points.
The indices have seen strong swings in recent sessions, with the trend often reversing before the close.
“These swings of more than 2% up or down are extremely rare and speak to the great fragility of investors for such volatility to set in in such a short time,” said Ryan Detrick, head of LPL Financial’s market strategy.
“Ongoing concerns about inflation, which appears to have peaked but remains stubbornly high, continue to worry investors,” he added.
According to the US Department of Labor, producer prices rose 11.0% year on year in April, compared to an 11.5% gain the previous month, and consumer prices rose 8.3% after +8.5% in March.
Despite this, the Fed is expected to raise key interest rates by at least 50 basis points on at least three occasions over the next few months. The US Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Jerome Powell for a second term as head of the US central bank.
At stocks, the owner of Kate Spade fashion group Tapestry jumped after saying it was confident Chinese demand would pick up once restrictions imposed to tackle the country’s coronavirus outbreaks were lifted.
Walt Disney ended lower after a weaker-than-expected second quarter.
(With contributions from Devik Jain and Amruta Khandekar; French version Camille Raynaud)