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Written by Charles-Henry Monchau | Sep 23, 2023 9:11:27 AM

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WEEKLY SUMMARY: S&P500 & Nasdaq post worst week since March

The Fed held its September meeting and the message from Jay Powell was clear: they will continue to keep rates elevated until inflation moves more convincingly toward 2.0%. The Fed held rates steady at 5.25% - 5.5% at this meeting but kept the option of an additional rate hike on the table, maintaining its outlook for a peak fed funds rate of 5.6%. The S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite reacted negatively, dropping 2.9% and 3.6% respectively. That marked the third straight negative week and worst weekly performance since March for each. As Vanda Research notes, inflows into the artificial intelligence (AI) sector continue to decline. The VIX jumped back above 17 on the week. Bond yields surged after the central bank forecasted one more rate hike for 2023. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost mearly 1,6% for the week — its worst performance since mid-August. Within Fixed Income, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield popped to its highest level since 2007 this week. Meanwhile, the 2-year rate touched its highest level since 2006. Concern also grew around a government shutdown, which could dent consumer confidence and slow down the economy further. House Republican leaders sent the chamber into recess on Thursday. The dollar rallied on the week (up for the 8th week of the last 9)... Oil prices caused lots of excitement intraweek but ended unchanged with WTI hovering around $90.50. Bitcoin was noisy on the week but basically closed unchanged at around $26,500...