The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell by about the same margin. “Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining restrictive policy for some time,” Powell said in remarks at the Wyoming gathering. “The historical record strongly warns against premature easing of policy.” Investors were bracing for hawkish messages from the head of the US central bank about the Fed’s ambitions to tighten monetary conditions and restore price stability as inflation remains near a four-decade high. Federal Reserve officials have argued that upcoming policy decisions will be driven by economic data on a meeting basis – and so far, many readings on economic activity have confirmed that the central bank is likely to tighten monetary conditions further. On Friday, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that consumer prices fell slightly last month. Headline PCE fell 0.1% between June and July with a 4.8% drop in energy prices driving the gauge lower. On a year-over-year basis, headline PCE rose 6.3% in July. Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, rose 0.1% month-on-month in July and 4.6% from a year earlier, marking the slowest annual increase since October 2021. Economists had expected the core PCE will increase by 4.7% compared to the same month last year. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, and his wife Elissa Leonard attend a dinner program in Grand Teton National Park, where economic leaders from around the world gather for the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium outside Jackson, Wyoming, U.S., August 25 2022. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George told Yahoo Finance in an interview that policymakers have “more work to do” on rate hikes and the sharper effects of recent moves they have not yet been felt. “We’re trying to get back to 2 percent inflation as quickly as we can without hurting the economy,” George said in Jackson Hole. The story continues “So July it looked like there was some easing in those price pressures, but it certainly wasn’t enough to say, we’re headed in the right direction,” he added. “So I think we’ve got more data to look at. And I think we’ve got more work to do, to start seeing that trend go away.” — Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc Click here for the latest Yahoo Finance platform stock trends Click here for the latest stock market news and in-depth analysis, including the events that move stocks Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn and YouTube
