NEW YORK (AA) – The stock market opened lower Friday with hawkish statements of an official from the Federal Reserve, which increased the possibility of a rate hike by the bank later this month.
The Dow Jones fell 136 points to begin the day at 18,343 and the S&P 500 was down 16 points at 2,164. The Nasdaq decreased 39 points to start the day at 5,219.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said in his speech before market opening that the Fed could “continue to pursue a gradual normalization of monetary policy” in his view, based on the data that have been seen in the U.S. economy so far.
The comments by Rosengren, who has a voting right in the Federal Open Market Committee this year, were perceived as hawkish by analysts who stressed that the Fed’s likelihood to increase its benchmark interest rate in its September meeting is now higher.
Meanwhile, oil prices that soared Thursday with a surprising decline in the U.S.’ weekly crude inventories were retreating Friday as investors took a sell-off position for short-term profit.
As crude oil prices declined around 2 percent on Friday, this also contributed to Wall Street opening lower, according to analysts.
At the first bell, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was down 2 percent to $46.68 per barrel. International benchmark Brent crude traded at $48.95 a barrel — a 2.1 percent decline.
