Wall St wavers as volatile week draws to a close

By Shubham Batra and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes swung between gains and losses on the last day of a tumultuous week that rocked the global markets as the low-yielding yen surged and fears of a recession gripped the world’s biggest economy.

All major indexes were set for weekly losses, with the and the Nasdaq headed for a fourth straight week of fall.

Global markets experienced heightened volatility this week after dour U.S. job reports and the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hike on July 31 that led to a sharp appreciation in the yen, widely used for buying high-yielding assets, which resulted in the unwinding of currency carry trade positions.

But after jobless claims last week fell more than expected, U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday. The , Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, which had surged to 65.73 at the start of the week, also declined to 22.23 points.

Analysts are still skeptical. “Further data will be needed to assure that last week’s jobs number isn’t affirming heightened risk of an imminent recession,” said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott.

“In the meantime, equities may be in a trading range above that of the recent sell off low but no new catalyst for a sustained advance to ensue.”

Most megacap and growth stocks were higher, except Alphabet (NASDAQ:), which was down over 1%. Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors were trading higher, with healthcare and consumer discretionary leading the gains.

Investors are now awaiting next week’s readings on the consumer prices and retail sales for July, which could provide fresh evidence on the chances of a soft landing for the American economy.

Fed policymakers said on Thursday they were confident that inflation was cooling enough to allow interest-rate cuts ahead, and will take their cues on the size and timing of those cuts from the economic data.

Money markets are evenly split between the Fed cutting rates by 50-basis points and 25-basis points in September, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.

At 11:25 a.m. ET, the rose 35.77 points, or 0.09%, to 39,482.26, the S&P 500 gained 12.41 points, or 0.23%, to 5,331.72 and the gained 27.66 points, or 0.17%, to 16,687.68.

Among individual stocks, Elf Beauty fell 15.8% after it forecast annual sales and profit below estimates, while Paramount Global rose 1.2% as investors cheered strong growth at the media group’s streaming business.

Videogame publisher Take-Two (NASDAQ:) Interactive Software climbed 2.8% as it expects net bookings to grow in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.

Expedia (NASDAQ:) advanced 8.6% after the online travel agency beat analysts’ expectations for second-quarter profit, while The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:) added 8.7% after the ad tech firm forecast third-quarter revenue above analysts’ estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.33-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.15-to-1 ratio on Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted eight new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 39 new highs and 106 new lows.