:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/M6KKI7DFKJCSJDQBVR5U6KUI7Q.png "Markets Wrap")
Bloomberg Línea — U.S. markets closed five straight sessions with losses on Friday after minutes from the December meeting of the Federal Reserve showed interest rises are imminent. The S&P 500 (SPX) made its worst start to the year since 2016, while the Nasdaq Composite (CCMPDL) also closed with losses as tech shares remain on a downturn.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.01%.
“2022 has not seen the usual start-of-year recovery,” Florian Ielpo, director of macro at Lombard Odier Asset Management, told Bloomberg. “The first week of January is usually a week of positive share performance, this time they dropped and lost value”.
Large-capitalization companies such as Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL) and Alphabet (GOOGL) were among the week’s worst performers, and the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) had its worst week since February 2021.
The president of the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, James Bullard, said interest rates could be raised in March, while the Fed’s president in San Francisco, Mary Daly, said Friday that she was in favor of raising rates “gradually”.
The Fed’s position does not only affect stock markets, with crypto also falling. Bitcoin (XBT) was trading at $41,983,91 at 16:18 New York time, a weekly accumulated loss of 11%.
Latin America
Chile’s stock exchange (IPSA) was the only one in the region to close with losses, down 1.20%, as higher than expected inflation has aroused expectations of a hardening of monetary policy by the central bank, with 2021 inflation totaling 7.2%, the highest since 2007.
Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV) ended the day’s trading with the strongest gain in the region, up 1.14%, with raw materials and finance shares performing the best.
