© Reuters.
By Liz Moyer
Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened lower as investors digested comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell after the central bank raised interest rates by a half-point.
At 9:52 AM ET, the was down 419 points or 1.2%, while the fell 1.5% and the fell 2.3%.
Powell sparked a end-of-day rally on Wednesday after saying the policy makers weren’t considering a bigger rate hike, though he did suggest another half-point increase was in the cards for the next meeting. The seemingly less aggressive than feared stance sent technology stocks soaring, though stocks across the board were taking a breather on Thursday.
All eyes are now on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ job report for April, due out on Friday. The expectation is that the economy added about 400,000 nonfarm jobs during the month.
Crude oil prices continued to rise as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies prepared to meet Thursday. , the U.S. benchmark, rose 2.5% to $110 a barrel, while crude, the international standard, rose 2.9% to $113 a barrel.
rose 1.3% to $1893 an ounce.
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