US stocks open mixed as Kevin Warsh provides fresh cues for inflation, interest rate and growth

The US stock markets opened mixed on Friday with a negative bias, amid profit booking in chip stocks. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 opened in the green with marginal gains, while the NASDAQ 100 erased partial gains of the previous day. Meanwhile, investors continue to remain on the sidelines in the early trade ahead of the Federal Reserve Chairman’s speech in Jackson Hole.

The US 10Y yields have recouped the majority of the 25th August losses on Friday, surging above the 4.68% level. However, the 30Y yields fell below 5.17%, suggesting the long-term inflation and interest rates outlook remains benign. Meanwhile, the near-term interest rate hike fears increase ahead of Kevin Warsh’s speech.

At the stock-specific level, Nvidia shares witnessed profit booking on Friday, losing 1.9%, after soaring 8.7% on Thursday. Meanwhile, Mega caps continued their rally with Meta Platforms gaining (+1.4%), Alphabet (+0.58%), Apple Inc (+0.6%), Amazon Inc (+1.2%) and Microsoft (+0.6%) on Friday.

Meanwhile, Salesforce extended its rally for the second consecutive day by rising +3.2% on Friday. The company posted strong revenue growth of $11.2 billion, rising 11% YoY. Similarly, the company raised its FY27 revenue target to $46.7 billion, up from $46.2 billion earlier. AI-led integration continued to deliver robust results, alleviating worries about ‘Saascoplypse’. The term was coined to explain the impact of AI aftermath on the software as a service (SaaS) companies.

Kevin Warsh on inflation

Speaking at Jackson Hole Symposium, Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh said that underlying inflation is not slowing and vowed to fight price growth until it comes closer to 2%. Meanwhile, he also stated that the labor market continues to remain consistent and resilient, with employment increasing the probability of a rate hike in the coming policy meetings. The Federal Reserve has kept the interest rates unchanged for five consecutive policy meetings at 3.5%-3.75%.