Friday was a lackluster session on Wall Street, with major U.S. averages lingering in negative territory at midday trading in New York. This session coincided with the simultaneous expiration of a large volume of options and futures contracts, commonly referred to as "triple witching."
However, rather than a sharp spike in volatility, stocks edged only slightly lower, failing to trigger a rise in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX).
Investor sentiment remained defensive, with 10 out of 11 sectors of the S&P 500 falling, while utilities were the only sector to post a positive performance.
Dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated that he expects "very low" August Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data.
Waller also hinted at the possibility of a 25 basis point rate cut in the next meeting or two if the data continues to come in as expected, with a stronger size of cut if the labor market weakens and inflation softens more rapidly.
Waller's comments sent gold surging past $2,600 per ounce, marking new all-time highs.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) remained stable at $63,000.
Friday's Performance In Major U.S. Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | Chg (1-day %) |
| Dow Jones | 42,015.17 | 0.0% |
| S&P 500 | 5,700.41 | -0.2% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 19,771.36 | -0.3% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,237.55 | -0.7% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 0.5% lower to $567.92.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) edged 0.2% down to $420.43.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) fell 0.3% to $481.96.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) fell 0.7% to $222.50.
- The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) outperformed, up 2.1%. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI) lagged, down 0.7%.
Friday's Stock Movers
- FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) tumbled 13.6% on dismal quarterly earnings.
- Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN) also reacted to earnings, falling over 4%.
- Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) rose over 6%, following the company's appointment of Elliot Hill as the new CEO.
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Wall Street illustration created using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.