Global market: Fresh data raises fears of rising inflation, Wall Street sees decline

Wall Street: Wall Street stocks fell sharply on Friday as fresh US data raised fears of weak economic growth and rising inflation. Amazon, Microsoft and other big technology companies were heavily sold off. Trump's tariff policy is expected to increase inflation and recession in the US. US consumer spending grew less than expected in February, while underlying prices rose the most in 13 months.

Meanwhile, a survey by the University of Michigan shows that consumers' 12-month inflation expectations rose to the highest level in nearly two-and-a-half years in March. Consumers believe that inflation will remain high even after next year. These figures have increased the fear that the tariff announcements made by US President Donald Trump since taking office in January will increase the prices of imported goods, increase inflation and keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates.

Shares of Wall Street's big companies fell sharply due to inflation and tariff concerns. Apple fell 2.7%, Microsoft 3% and Amazon 4.3%.

"Another big concern for investors is that the impact of tariffs on inflation has not yet shown up in the data," said Greg Bassuk, CEO of New York-based AXS Investments. "We believe at this point we are seeing the calm before the tariff storm. Inflation is likely to rise rather than fall in the coming months."

On Friday, the S&P 500 fell 1.97% to close at 5,580.94. The Nasdaq fell 2.70% to 17,322.99, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.69% to close at 41,583.90.

Ten of the 11 sectoral indices of the S&P 500 declined, with communication services falling the most by 3.81%, followed by consumer discretionary by 3.27%. With Friday's decline, the S&P 500 is down nearly 9% from its record high of February 19. The Nasdaq is down nearly 14% from its record high of December 16.

On a weekly basis, the S&P 500 index fell by 1.5 per cent, Nasdaq by 2.6 per cent and Dow Jones by nearly 1 per cent.

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Interest rate futures traders see a 76% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points by its June meeting, according to CME FedWatch. An index tracking the interest-rate-sensitive bank sector closed down 2.3 percent. The CBOE volatility index rose nearly 3 points to a one-week high.

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